Terry Farley
I was born in Dallas, Texas and have two older sisters and two younger brothers one of which is my identical twin. While in school I participated in sports and was active with my church. It was while I was in Junior College that I met my wife Julie. We were married in 1983 and this year will mark 39 years of marriage. We have two daughters; our oldest daughter Courtney and her husband Jon lives in Houston and our youngest daughter Cami lives in Dallas.
In High School and for several years afterwards I worked as a landscaper. In my mid-twenties I began working in the linen and uniform industry as a route driver and worked my way up to doing sales. Even though I did this for over 15 years there was always something telling me that there was more to life than sales, I never saw myself as a teacher but always dreamed of working with children.
My wife and I moved to Amarillo to pursue my dream of working with children by becoming house parents at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. While working there I sustained a back injury and we returned home to Canton, Texas.
Wanting to pursue my dream of working with children, I entered the School of Education not knowing what age group of students that I wanted to teach but wanting to be where I was needed the most. After spending time in a special needs classroom, I knew that this population of students needed me the most.
I walked the stage in 2012 at the age of 50 having earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Tyler with certifications in Early Childhood - 6, All Level Special Education and English as a Second Language.
Upon graduation I was blessed beyond measure to have received a teaching position at the Boshears Center. Throughout the years at the Boshears Center I have served as a Middle School teacher, a High School teacher, and the Webmaster. This past year I was asked to serve as a CONNECT teacher. In this role, I have been given the honor of meeting with business in our community to discuss what our students could do for them and the possibility for our students to go to their business for Work Based Learning. Knowing that all students would not be able to go off campus for work the concept of creating a work like facility came to mind and when given the opportunity to team up with other teachers we were able to receive a grant for the Busy Bee Mart. The Busy Bee Mart will be a store, where students will apply the lessons they learn in the classroom to real-life experiences as both shoppers and employees. I cannot think of a better place to BEE.