For three decades he steadily climbed the ladder of the newspaper business serving as an editor, publisher, and finally the owner of a chain of newspapers in the Southeast. In 1988, he sold most of his newspaper holdings. Currently he remains the owner and president of The Union Springs Herald . Terry has served as president and chairman of the board of the Alabama Press Association, he is a past chairman of the board of directors of the former Dothan Federal Savings Bank and he owns 400 acres of working farmland. He has also owned his own home-building firm.
Terry knows what it means to make a payroll and to run a small business.
Terry began his 1992 race for Congress as a virtual unknown and ended it by defeating a man with the most famous name in Alabama politics, State Treasurer George Wallace, Jr., son of the former governor and presidential candidate. In the 103rd Congress, Terry won a seat on the National Security Committee which enables him to watch over the operations and construction at Montgomery's Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, home of Air University, and the Wiregrass area's Fort Rucker, home of the Army's Aviation Warfighting Center. On National Security, he serves on the subcommittees on Procurement and Military Facilities and Installations. He also serves on the Veterans' Affairs Committee as chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. It is on the Oversight Subcommittee that Terry focused national attention in 1998 on burial waivers at Arlington National Cemetery.