Terrence Hawkins

Terrence Riley Hawkins, son of Marvin and Betty Hawkins, and brother of Bruce Allen, Alice Marie and Janet Raye was born in Eugene, Oregon on March 29, 1951 and passed away, surrounded by his loving family, on July 12, 2025 at the age of 74. He lived his entire life in the Springfield, Oregon area.

After graduating from Thurston High School, he met and married Vonda Vandegriffe in 1969. They were married for 33 years and were blessed with three daughters, Becki Marie, Melissa Jill, and Karen Dawn.

Terry first worked for Camac Veneer in Eugene on their log pond where he occasionally had to come home early for dry clothes after a slip off a log into the pond. His next job was with Clear Fir/Nicolai Door Manufacturing in Springfield. He held many positions during his 18 years there until a labor strike ended that employment. He later worked as a custodian for the Springfield School District.

Terry enjoyed the outdoors. His pride and joy was designing and constructing a cabin with his dad on a small acreage that bordered the Little Deschutes River in the Two Rivers North Subdivision off of Highway 58 nearby Crescent Lake. It was quite a project that included much help from family and friends, to clear the land, have a well dug, and build the cabin. Terry also built an outdoor “solar” shower which was a welcome relief from having to bathe in the Little Deschutes when the weather was cold. He spent all his free time at the cabin keeping up with landscaping, fishing, and riding his trail bike around the area.

When times were lean, Terry was always looking for ways to earn extra money. That led to the purchase of one bin (that grew to six bins) of Red Wriggler worms to sell to fishermen. Then he found out that you could feed worms from rabbit droppings from cages over the bins. Soon we had 100 rabbits in our small unattached garage in downtown Springfield. We knew that would likely lead to complaints from neighbors, so we sold the home and moved to Pleasant Hill and had to build a barn for all those rabbits. One day a wind came up and blew the barn over, collapsing on itself. That ended the worm and rabbit business. The barn itself was able to be raised again which came in handy when the gas shortages were in effect in the mid-70’s when you could only get gas on certain days of the week. It allowed Terry to dig a ramp into the ground to keep a 55-gallon barrel of gas at the ready because Melissa was born with a congenital heart defect that could unexpectedly need to be treated at OHSU in Portland. It also provided an easy way to change oil in vehicles.

The final money-making adventure was for Empress Pearls. It was like a Tupperware gathering where participants could pick an oyster out of a fish bowl for $3.50, hoping for a beautiful pearl. Our hope was that they then would purchase jewelry (necklaces or rings) to have their pearl set in. We were unsuccessful in persuading others to purchase something we couldn’t ourselves afford.

For the last 8 years of his life, due to ongoing health issues, Terry lived in Gateway Living homes in Springfield, where he was attended to and well cared for by staff and caregivers. Terry kept in daily contact by phone with his daughters and sisters. They each responded to his many wants and needs, most of which included cheese puffs, soda, goodies and ice cream. Until his health declined to the point where he could no longer be taken out of the facility, he would often be found being taken out for breakfast or on a car ride to the Oregon coast, and lastly for short fishing trips to a local pond.

Terry is survived by his daughters, Becki Hawkins Prenevost (Matt) and grandsons Landon Shaffor and Tucker Shaffor; Melissa Hawkins Huston (Duane) and grandchildren Skylar Hawkins-Ballini, Tanner Hawkins-Ballini, Leighanna Huston and Kain Huston; and Karen Hawkins Thompson (Jeff) and granddaughters Ashlyn Thompson and Addison Thompson. He is also survived by his sisters, Alice Marie (Chick) Coffman (Jim) and Janet Mitchell (Dale), as well as his uncle, Dale (Butch) Hawkins.

Private family remembrance gatherings will be held at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Research Hospital in Terry’s name.