Terri Ann Mahoney

Terri Ann Bloxom Mahoney passed away at home on April 24 in Sandpoint, Idaho due to complications from Alzheimer’s. Memorial services for Terri will be held at 11:00 am, Monday, May 2, 2022 at Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel in Sandpoint, Id. She was born on May 23, 1945 to Bob and Laura Bloxom. Although she was that rare species, a Sandpoint native, her husband Mike always teased her that she wasn’t even born here. In fact, since her Dad was in the Marines, Terri’s Mom did travel to Farragut Naval Training Base at the south end of Lake Pend Oreille for her birth, so her birth certificate does say Kootenai County instead of Bonner County. Nevertheless, you would be hard pressed to find a better example of a Sandpoint native. She loved her community, would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen, and believed living in Sandpoint was heaven on earth. When Terri was five and her sister Judy was two, their mother developed all three types of polio, which was normally a fatal occurrence in those days. However, with an incredibly strong will to live to raise her daughters, Laura endured eighteen months in an iron lung in Spokane and over a year at the Elks Rehabilitation Hospital in Boise. Three years later she returned to Sandpoint determined to be the best Mom she could be despite then being a wheelchair bound quadriplegic. By then Terri was eight and Judy five, and they soon learned the household routines and how to care for their Mom while their Dad was at work. Terri loved her school days in Sandpoint. One of the benefits of a small town is that she was able to graduate high school with some of the same kids that started first grade with her. Being a cheerleader in school allowed her to stay in the middle of the social activities and was the source of many of her memories. She said that the thick, below the knee skirts the cheerleaders wore were so heavy that once she started twirling around it was hard to stop because she barely weighed 100 pounds at the time. To hear her stories, it seems that flirting with the boys was just as important as cheering for the teams. During one football game, the cheerleaders got so carried away with their jumping and megaphones and pom poms that they were cheering “First and ten, do it again” when the other team actually had the ball. Football Coach MacDonald was so upset that the next week he had the girls attend a class on football fundamentals so they would understand what “First and ten” meant. Following high school, Terri married her high school sweetheart Bill Jacobson who was already attending the University of Idaho. After he graduated he began teaching school in Sandpoint and Terri ran a daycare in their home. That was convenient because she and Bill had two children during that time, Michelle and Eric. After a few years, Bill and Terri partnered with Mike and Connie Parkins and opened PJ’s Bar and Grill in downtown Sandpoint. It quickly became known as the locals “watering hole” and for the best hamburgers in town. Although the business was successful, Terri would say later that the bar business can be hard on marriages and she and Bill were divorced in 1977. She started dating Mike Mahoney after that and, when things began to look serious, she realized there was one problem: Mike had a habit of moving every three or four years and he’d already been in Sandpoint over three years at the time. She pointed out to him that she was a Sandpoint local and intended to stay one, so he had a choice to make. Mike made what he would later describe as the best decision of his life and they were married shortly after that. After leaving the bar business, Terri worked at various businesses including Ernie Belwood’s Furniture Exchange, Larson’s Clothing, Foster’s Crossing, Old Library Antiques and Marketplace Antiques. She was involved for several years with the Sandpoint Junior Miss program and was one of the original volunteers for Sandpoint’s Lost in the 50s. She enjoyed any get-together of friends, family and old classmates, and helped organize several of her class reunions. Mike was involved with Winter Carnival and the Chamber of Commerce during those years so she often got “volunteered” into those activities as well. Terri is survived by her husband Mike, children Eric and Michelle (Duane) Finley, grandchildren Jake Finley and Alex (Valeri) Finley, great-grandchildren Alice, Ryan and James, sister Judy (Jim) Janish and numerous aunts, nieces, nephews and cousins. Terri’s family extends deep appreciation to the staff of both Eden Home Health and Aging Better In-Home Care for their assistance. The family will be forever grateful to the incredible individuals with the non-profit Bonner General Health Community Hospice for their extraordinary compassion and professionalism while guiding Terri and her family through her final days at home. Memorial donations may be made to the Hospice at their web page.