Obituary: Stephen C. Terry, 1942-2025

Stephen C. Terry of Middlebury, a lifelong, iconic Vermonter, died on July 19, 2025, in his 1799 home, surrounded by his beloved family and his library and memorabilia from the many Vermont organizations that he helped lead over the years. A longtime reporter, editor and executive at Green Mountain Power, Stephen was a valued political adviser to many Vermont politicians.

In 2014 he was named Vermont Citizen of the Year by the Vermont State Chamber of Commerce.

He was 82 when he died of cancer.

Stephen loved and was loved by three exceptional women and their children: his first wife, Sandra Wells, and their children, Megan and Joshua; his second wife, the late Sally West Johnson, and their son, Will; and, last, his wife, Faith Terry, who was by his side during his later years.

Stephen was born in Windsor, Vt., on October 2, 1942, to Charles and Patricia Terry, as the eldest of his four siblings, John, Ellen, Tom and Margaret. His lifelong interest in journalism was sparked as a sports reporter in high school for a local weekly.

After graduating from the University of Vermont, he and Sandra were married, and Stephen was hired by the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. He covered state politics, the reapportionment of the Vermont legislature and the tenure of governor Phil Hoff.

“Phil Hoff forever changed the State of Vermont,” Stephen told the New York Times in 2018. Later, he coauthored the book Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State.

Stephen detoured into politics in 1969 when senator George Aiken recruited him to work as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, and he became Aiken’s lead staffer for the Senate Foreign Relations and Agriculture committees. Later, he authored the book Say We Won and Get Out, which details how Aiken became a leading critic of the War in Vietnam.

In Vermont, Stephen opened the Burlington Bureau of the Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers, then became founding editor of their Sunday editions. In 1977, he was named the managing editor of the Rutland Herald.

The Herald thrived during that period and was recognized as one of the best small-city dailies in the country. “Under his leadership … the Herald became the newspaper that state officials, politicians, and civic leaders turned to for information about state affairs,” wrote Robert Mitchell, publisher.

In 1980, he met Sally W. Johnson, a promising journalist who became a longtime reporter and editor. They married and over their 30 years together shared an enduring love of journalism and politics, prior to her death in 2010.

Steve joined the leadership of Green Mountain Power (GMP) in 1985. “I learned early on that Steve is motivated by spearheading actions that benefit Vermont,” said Dotty Schnure, longtime GMP colleague. During his tenure there, he facilitated the importation of hydroelectric power from Québec, championed the state’s very first commercial wind farm in Lowell and advanced GMP’s acquisition of Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) in 2012.

Stephen actively engaged in community leadership, including the Vermont Community Foundation, Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, UVM’s Center for Research on Vermont, Snelling Center for Government, Vermont Press Association, Vermont Historical Society, Vermont Journalism Trust, Vermont Food Bank and the UVM Aiken Lecture Series. He initiated the Vermont Writers’ Prize and served on the Middlebury Planning Commission and as chair of the board of trustees of the Porter Medical Center, leading negotiations as they joined the UVM Health Network.

Through his civic engagement, years earlier, he had first met Terry Faith Weihs. Faith, a champion of the arts and creative economy, and her late husband, Gerald, an attorney, lived in downtown Vergennes and were proactive in guiding the town’s revitalization. Stephen and Faith reconnected and entered upon a loving relationship, an unanticipated gift for both of them, that continued until his passing. Prior to their wedding, Faith bought Stephen his first heritage-breed Belted Galloway cow, which eventually turned into a small, beloved herd of cows he would visit daily.

Stephen’s home office, on the foundation of an old chicken coop, provided a creative sanctuary where he spent inspired days writing about Vermont history and politics. He could also be found on WCAX-TV as a Democratic political analyst as election days approached.

As a recipient of the 2014 Vermont Citizen of the Year award, Stephen’s colleagues had written enumerable letters of recommendation. “His knowledge of Vermont is extraordinary, as is his dedication to the people of the State of Vermont,” wrote former governor Howard Dean. The Pulitzer Prize-winning editor from the Rutland Herald, David Moats, stated: “It was Steve’s great quality as a citizen of Vermont that, no matter whom he was representing, the good of the state was always the backdrop of our conversations.”

Stephen’s love for his home state was evident in nearly everything he did. He leaves Vermont a better place, the result of his political savvy and intuition, his hard work ethic and his devotion to the place where he was born and built a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Stephen will be greatly missed by his family; his friends; his many colleagues from Vermont journalism, business and politics; and by his community.

Stephen will be buried in the West Cemetery in Middlebury. The Vermont community is invited to help celebrate his life on October 9, 2025, 5:30 p.m., at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury.

Contributions in his memory can be made to the Addison Independent or the Vermont Journalism Trust, a nonprofit organization he helped to create. It supports the digital publication VTDigger.

This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2025.