Family, friends mourn a ‘Mary Poppins’ of a woman, killed in Modesto crash
Editor’s note: The California Highway Patrol’s Modesto office on Wednesday, Jan. 9 corrected information it released on a Dec. 22 head-on collision on Highway 99 north of Pelandale Avenue. It now says Salida resident Terilyn Peralta, driving a GMC Yukon, was going north in the southbound lanes. It previously had identified the driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe as going the wrong way.
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Some people talk about how they’re someday going to give back, or pay it forward.
Terilyn Peralta wasn’t one of them, said her mentor and friend, Bryan Justin Marks, associate dean of student services at Modesto Junior College. No, Terilyn already was giving back, even as she worked to complete her own education.
She tutored in MJC’s Bridge Program for at-risk and foster youth, of which she was an alum, Marks said. As a member of the college’s CARE (Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education) assistance program for single parents, she spearheaded the raising of tens of thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life.
She did this, and always was ready to help any friends and family members in need, even as she worked two jobs — at O’Brians Tavern and Michael’s Pizza Bar & Grill — and was single mother to two sons, ages 7 and 3, Marks said.
“I’m supposed to be her mentor,” he mused as he sat with Terilyn’s mother and sister for an interview Wednesday afternoon, “but she just lived the way ...” He drifted off, collecting his thoughts.
“That hesitation we have as adults in life, she didn’t have,” he continued. “She just dove into everything, just pure passion. Where people like us sit and think and wait, she just said, ‘What do you need and how can I do it?’ ”
The world got a bit darker early the morning of Saturday, Dec. 22, Marks said, when Terilyn was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver on southbound Highway 99 north of Pelandale Avenue. The 24-year-old Salida resident was in a Chevy Tahoe, heading south to stay with a friend and planning to go Christmas shopping the next morning, said her mother, Angie Ledesma.
The wrong-way driver, in a GMC Yukon, sideswiped another vehicle before hitting Terilyn head-on.
The Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office has not released Terilyn’s name, nor the identities of the Yukon driver and passenger also killed. Positive identification is awaiting DNA testing and/or dental records, a deputy said Wednesday morning.
The California Highway Patrol also had no new information Wednesday to release on the crash. There’s been no determination yet on whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the wrong-way driving.
Terilyn was identified on social media by friends and family. She is survived by sons Anthony, 7, and Jayden, 3, her mother, her father, Juan, and her siblings, Katrina, Nicholas and Christopher.
Katrina Peralta-Stehli, 21, spoke softly when asked about her sister. “When I think of her, I think of the kids,” who were everything to her, she said, noting that Terilyn was a young mom, pregnant at 16. “She struggled a lot, but always tried really hard,” said Peralta-Stehli, noting that her sister left school a couple of times but always returned. At the time of her death, she was planning to re-enroll at MJC, Marks said.
She and her sister sometimes would fight over petty things, like borrowed clothing or hairbrushes, Peralta-Stehli said. But “no matter what, if something was wrong with me, she knew and she would reach out to me and say, ‘I know things are tough, but you’re better than this, stronger than this.’ She always put her problems aside to help me and my siblings.”
Terilyn was the same way with friends, said Marks and her mother and sister. Need a ride? She’d be there. Flat tire? She could put on a spare. Car trouble? Even wearing her nicest dress, she wouldn’t hesitate to pop the hood. A friend nicknamed her Mary Poppins because it was almost magical how she’d solve problems and get things done.
“The irony is if we were doing this for someone else,” Marks said of funeral planning and fundraising for her young sons, “she’d be the one right now leading it.”
Peralta’s family has established a gofundme account to “help cover cremation, future child care, education, medical and any other expenses my sister had as a single mother,” Peralta-Stehli wrote on the page.
A drive-through fundraising dinner also is being held Jan. 22 at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant, 3037 Sisk Road. Tickets are available through Jan. 15. To place an order, message Marks or Peralta-Stehli on their Facebook pages, or call Peralta-Stehli at 209-818-2760.
This story was originally published January 2, 2019 at 3:30 PM.
