Terry Ray Manley's Life Story

Carlie Valdes

12/3/10

3/4

President Roosevelt once said, "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." Imagine how much fear you would feel if you were jumping out of an airplane at 1,200 feet off of the ground. Would it be scary? Well, Terry Manley has done this many times, even at greater heights. Terry Ray Manley was born on September ninth, 1939 in Traverse City, Michigan. "T.R." is the son of Ray Manley and Peg Melvin/Manley, who are now deceased. He has had an immensely riveting childhood, adult life, and, now, golden years. However, the childhood is the first great step in creating a Navy Seal.

Terry’s childhood was very demanding. At a very early age, he moved to Portage, Wisconsin and then to Welcome, Minnesota. It wasn't very hard for him because he was so young and easily made friends. In most cases he believes "Change is good." Believing in this has had  a good effect on Terry's life. He never complained when it came time to move again. He was always excited to go to a new place and see new people. At about nine years old, he then moved to the small town of Waldorf, Minnesota. This time, it was a little harder for him to leave all of his friends, but it didn't seem like too big of a deal."I wish I would've spent more time with my parents." With Terry's busy schedule, he didn't get to bond very much with his parents. Waldorf is where Terry spent most of his childhood and adolescent life with his three brothers and one sister; it is also where he fell head over heels in love, during his adolescence, with his wife Bonnie Spangler.

During Terry's adolescence many events occurred. One interesting thing that happened was that Terry started working at a creamery. "I loved the job," he said. One reason why Terry loved the job is that he would sometimes eat cartons of ice cream during his lunch break with his other employees. Yum! That would like having a party during lunch. It would be really fun. Terry also mentioned that one of the employees that he worked with in the creamery had gotten trapped in one of the ice boxes and had almost developed hypothermia. Gosh! That would be a bummer! It wouldn't even be pleasant to get frost-bite. Another thing that happened was that he started dating, and eventually married, Bonnie Spangler; his wife for 45 "short" years. Terry loved Bonnie with all of his heart. They had been together through thick and thin, good and bad; their love for each other never died. After Terry got out of high school he thought more realistically about what he wanted to do in life. He did this because he knew he had to layout a future plan for himself, now that school was over. "My dad mostly influenced me to join the Navy. He talked me into it by practically stating that there weren't many jobs available. However, I was the one to decide to become a Navy Seal." "T.R." is very glad he decided upon the Navy Seals.

Terry was a young adult when he went into the Navy Seals. ("The team actually used to be called the Old Frogs and Seals, but they changed it.") As Peter Parker, from Spiderman, said, "With great power comes great responsibility." Terry picked up that old saying right away. As soon as he got out of training to become a Seal, he became completely dedicated to his work. As time passed by, he eventually worked his way up to 'chief' and trained people like Jesse Ventura. Wow! What a job! That must have been extremely hard and tedious for "T.R."; and in between all of this he had two wonderful kids, who are both now deceased, Michael J. Manley and Cheryl Ann Manley. It must be extremely difficult to manage with almost all the family gone, except for one of the granddaughters. Terry has persevered through all of this plus loosing one of his granddaughters due to bad decisions. Almost all of his family still lives back in Minnesota.(one of his brothers and his sister; his other brother lives in Colorado.) Though, now Terry is a retired veteran in his 'Golden Years.'  

Terry Ray Manley has had an extremely entertaining childhood, adolescence, and adult life. He was born in Traverse City, Michigan on September 9th, 1939. Terry was a Navy Seal for about 20 years and fought in Vietnam. He got married, and had two children, with Bonnie May Spangler who along with her two kids are deceased. "T.R." is now spending his Golden Years in Alpine, CA with one of his granddaughters. He has led a fascinating life and many more great things are expected to come of him.