Teri Lynne Vigil was born in Gardena, California on May 10, 1961. She graduated from Agoura Hills High School and California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo with a degree in Animal Science. She was an animal lover and an avid reader. She was a self-professed “city girl” but also was raised on a working dairy and vineyard with her dad.

In 1987 Teri met and fell in love with Michael Vigil at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, California. She was working as a veterinary assistant and Mike was working as a cowboy. They got married on January 8^th, 1988. Their first child, Alex, was born in October of that year.

Teri bravely moved to the very rural Dixie Valley Ranch in July of 1989 with her husband and young baby. It was forty-five minutes to the nearest small town of McArthur. She moved into the early 1900s ranch house with a caved in front porch and terrorizing pack rats. She adjusted to the rural ranch life quickly and became a cherished member of the Intermountain community.

She had three more children, Jessica, Emelia, and Justin. She put her heart and soul into motherhood and thrived. She quite literally drove the wheels off countless vehicles, as all her children were involved in multiple after school events. She became a school board member which started as an outlet to give back and bloomed into her passion. She loved her family more than anything in the world and put everything into making a beautiful life for them and her husband, Michael.

Teri was a lifelong advocate of equality for those less advantaged people of the world. She worked tirelessly to improve the school system for the kids who did not have parents to advocate for them. She gave a voice to the voiceless. She absorbed the pain others were suffering and gave them the joy that she had in return. She stayed on the schoolboard long after her own children graduated because of her desire to give back. After successfully raising her children, she was able to turn her passion into a professional career at the California School Board Association and worked alongside school districts all over the state.

Teri had an infectious smile and laugh that would light up the room. She had an aura of joy around her throughout her entire life that was palpable to anyone who met her. Her ability to meet a stranger on a plane and become lifelong friends by the end of the flight was unparalleled.

Teri is preceded in death by her mother, Colleen Philips, and her father Nick Verburg. She is survived by her husband, Michael Vigil; son and daughter in law, Alex and Alicia Vigil of Lincoln, California; daughter and son in law, Jessica and Austin Rogers of Crescent, Oklahoma; daughter, Emelia Vigil of Albany, California; son, Justin Vigil of Hayward, California who is attending California State University East Bay; and son David White of Sacramento, California. She is also survived by her two grandchildren from Alex and Alicia, Athena and Rafael Vigil, they also have another baby boy on the way. She is survived by her siblings Carrie Quintana of Clovis, California, Jennifer Burns of Kingsburg, California, Don Philips of Moreno Valley, California, and Danny Verburg of Kingsburg, California.

Services will be on Saturday, December 11^th at 2pm at the Fall River High School Gymnasium in McArthur, California. There is a gofundme page set up for a future memorial for Teri Vigil: Fundraiser by Alex Vigil : Teri Vigil Memorial Expenses and Scholarship Fund (gofundme.com)