Teresa “Teri” Raley (née Mary Frances Duque) died peacefully on Tuesday, August 16, 2022.
Teri was born in Louisville, KY on July 13, 1946 to David and Jeannette Duque. Teri grew up in Los Angeles, CA, the only child of two adoring parents. The memories that lasted longest always featured her family (mis)adventures. Sneaking smokes and singing ribald songs with her cousins. Shivering in her sleeping bag until the quail started to call. Flat tires and broken down Jeeps. Losing a car to an incoming tide. Paddle tennis battles. Portuguese Bend landslides and the Baldwin Hills Dam disaster. Teri was proud to be a Duque.
Teri moved to Ventura in the mid-1970s and renovated a home in Pierpont, where she raised her own family. As the co-owner of Creative Images, Teri was known by many for her years of work with the Ventura County Fair. Teri loved the Fair. In the last years of her life, in fact, she was often quite sure she was about to start a new job there. This made her very happy. Throughout all sorts of challenges, small and big, her circle of close friends kept her whole and kept her laughing.
Teri never met a boundary she didn’t want to cross. She was irreverent, and eager about it. Tools are for boys? Learn to install toilets and lay brick and become the “tool lady.” Stay quiet you say? Let’s tell an off-color joke. Live a comfortable life in Brentwood? Start over and move to Porterville. Sing sweet Christmas songs for the grandparents? Nah, better to sing “Norwegian Wood.” A scavenger hunt? A polaroid party instead, and best if it gets you into some trouble.
Teri was happiest when she was creating, especially when other people loved the things she made. She built gingerbread houses that looked like architectural models. She conducted epic birthdays, with pie fights and scavenger hunts. She crafted scale models of objects and places she loved. She assembled mosaics of plants and bugs and birds and sea creatures, all from glass she chipped by hand. She made every object in the 1982 Fair poster (and the clown in 1985). And she wrote. A lot. Poetry. Personal letters. Complaint letters. Ad copy. And, finally, through steadily advancing Parkinson’s Disease and the first hints of dementia, a novel.
Teri spent her last days singing old songs and noticing beautiful things.
Teri is survived by her son, Jason Duque, and his wife, Carla Corral; three grandchildren, Lilia Charlotte, Sela Milagro, and Ezekiel Tomás Duque; nieces Kymberly Irwin and Tiffany Cruskie; and nephew Bobby Wilcox. She was preceded in death by her father and mother.
The family wishes to extend deep gratitude to the staff at Wellness Care Senior Living who made Teri feel important and useful and loved.
Family and friends are invited to a funeral Mass will be held at San Buenaventura Mission, 211 E. Main Street Ventura on Friday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m.
Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, Ventura.