Teresa "Teri" Bernice (Maldonado) Pennison, 79, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away peacefully on October 27, 2025, at Porta Caeli Hospice House, surrounded by love.

Teri was born on May 17, 1946, in Dawson, New Mexico, a small coal-mining camp nestled in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The youngest of six children born to Fred and Priscilla Maldonado, she carried the warmth and resilience of her New Mexican roots wherever life led her.

After meeting the love of her life, Robert (Bob) Wesley Pennison Sr., in 1967, Teri stepped into a life of faith, family, and adventure. Together, they traveled the world as missionaries and pastors, making homes in New Mexico, California, Texas, Colorado, Oaxaca (Mexico), the Marshall Islands, China, and Spain before settling in Tulsa. Each place added another layer to their story, and Teri filled every home with love, laughter, and the smell of something delicious baking in the kitchen.

Teri worked much of her life as an administrative assistant, lending her sharp mind and kind heart to churches, law firms, and ministries. She also served faithfully beside her husband in his pastoral and missionary work, embodying the role of a pastor's wife with humility, warmth, and grace. In her later years, she found joy in her church family at First Methodist Church of Tulsa, where she and Bob could often be found praying over every pew before Sunday service, blessing the unseen stories of those who would soon sit there.

She was most at home in her kitchen, cooking enchiladas or baking pies, cookies, and candies to share. Every Christmas, she became a one-woman bakery, carefully wrapping and mailing boxes of homemade treats year after year. Those sweet packages became a symbol of her steadfast love and giving spirit.

Teri's heart was generous and wide open. She had a gift for noticing who needed encouragement or comfort and found joy in meeting those needs. She was forgiving, compassionate, and endlessly caring. Her laughter filled rooms, her stories lingered, and her kindness left an imprint on all who knew her. She never met a stranger, only friends she hadn't gotten to know yet.

She is survived by her beloved husband of 58 years, Robert (Bob) Pennison Sr.; her children, Robert Wesley Pennison Jr. (Gloria), Lisa Renee (Pennison) Skinner (Jim), and Andrea Leigh (Pennison) Reed; 24 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her siblings Betty Knox, Fred Maldonado Jr., and William Maldonado. She was preceded in death by her daughter Laurie Anne Pennison and her siblings Robert Maldonado and Josephine Steadman.

A visitation will be held on Sunday, November 2, 2025, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Fitzgerald Funeral Home Southwood Chapel, 3612 E. 91st Street, Tulsa, OK.

A celebration of life service will take place on Monday, November 3, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at First Methodist Church, 1115 S. Boulder Avenue, Tulsa, OK, with a cookie reception to follow, just as Teri would have loved.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to LPT Ministries, P.O. Box 700031, Tulsa, OK 74170.

Teri would most want her life to point others to Jesus, whose love she shared so freely.
"Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

She lived that verse with every breath. Her light will continue to shine in every act of kindness inspired by her beautiful life.