Ms. Terri Louise Burns

In Celebration Of The Life Of Terri Louise Burns: TERRI LOUISE BURNS was born August 3, 1968, in Detroit, Michigan. She was the youngest child born to the union of proud parents of Alice Marie (Conley) Burns and the late Nelson Frederick Burns. Terri's childhood was filled with love, joy, and happiness which she shared with your older sister Tina Marie. Terri began her education and her religious teaching through the Archdioceses of Detroit in the Catholic school system at Our Lady Gate of Heaven and Bishop Borgess High School. During this time, she received the “planting of the Christian seeds” which would become the foundation of her strong belief and faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. After graduating from high school, Terri was accepted to Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. During this academic period, Terri gained knowledge through learning and a continued her growth as a citizen of the world. While home on Christmas break in 1990, Terri would have lunch with a family friend who would be a driving factor on a career path whose would carve out the person we all would know and love. This friend had told Terri that the local airline carrier, Northwest Airlines was hiring to fill about 200 plus positions throughout its major hub cities including Detroit. While Terri was at Northwest Airlines (later Delta Airlines), she would develop customer service skills that would become the benchmark of those who were a part of her extended family. While at the airlines, Terri had become a world traveler, visiting such as Texas, Nevada, The Cayman Islands, and Europe. She truly enjoyed the benefits that this career had to offer. While deciding whether to return to Michigan State University to complete her last two years, in the spring of 1995, Terri had received her calling to continue to build upon her Christian faith by enrolling in the Layman’s Bible Study Program at Word of Faith Christian Center, (Word of Faith International Christian Center) in Southfield, Michigan. While in the two-year program, Terri received the blessing of the Holy Sprit when she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. During the winter of 1997, Terri made a key decision to learn a trade as a career back-up. Her love of the beauty industry pushed her to earn her manicuring license at Michigan College of Beauty in Troy, Michigan. What was even more exciting that this would quickly become a family affair. Terri’s dad, Nelson who also had a love for commercial art and her sister Tina who had the same passions as Terri with the beauty industry would soon join her at the beauty college in the manicuring program, and Nelson would embark into the cosmetology program at the school with a specialization is precision hair cutting. All three would graduated at the top of the college program in each of their perspective. This was truly a “family affair.” After 21 years of service with Delta Airlines, Terri had decided that it was time to embark on a new phase in her life. Terri went on to complete her greatest achievement when she returned to school at Devry University to complete her BS in Human Resource Management, then shortly there afterwards she went on to complete a double Master’s at Keller School of Management in MBA with a specialty in HRM and a Master of Arts in HRM. Terri was also a member of Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), where she presided as president over her local chapter for two years. In the spring of 2014, Terri was to continue her passion of offering superior customer service, accepted a position as a Retention Specialist with Verizon Communications (later Frontier Communications), where she remained until her passing. Those who knew Terri, also knew that she was a serious dog lover. Her little ‘hearts’ were Tyler, Tipper, Chewy, and Bandit. She would often call them her four-legged babies. On January 4, 2018, Terri was called home to be with her Heavenly Father. Terri’s flame will not diminish in time nor in death. It will burn forever brightly and blindly in the memories of our hearts.

Ms. Terri Louise Burns

August 3, 1968 - January 4, 2018