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Obituary: Dr. Christopher M. Terrien Jr., 1941-2025

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Medicine was native Vermonter’s life calling, and he served the Champlain Valley as a cardiologist for more than 45 years Dr. Christopher M. Terrien Jr. (“Doc” or “Butch”) passed away peacefully on February 3, 2025, at his home in South Hamilton, Mass., surrounded by his family. Born on November 2, 1941, in Burlington, Vt., he was the eldest son of Nora Finnegan and Dr. Christopher M. Terrien Sr. A proud lifelong Vermonter, Chris relocated to Massachusetts two years ago to be closer to his children. Chris attended Cathedral High School before graduating from Rice Memorial High School in 1959. He played football for Rice Memorial and skied competitively for the Mount Mansfield Ski Club. He hitchhiked to and from Stowe with his best friends, hiked the trails, and loved to ski fast — especially slalom. He met Patricia (“Patti”) Donahue skiing in 1961 and fell in love. He went on to ski for the University of Vermont. His dreams of trying out for the U.S. team were curtailed by a knee injury. Never one to back down from a challenge, he skied that season on one leg, buckled down with his studies and graduated “on fumes” in 1963, the same year he married Patricia Donahue. He went on to study medicine at the UVM College of Medicine and graduated in 1967. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University and UVM, where he subspecialized in cardiology, following in his father’s footsteps. He then served in the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, as part of the Berry Plan. He proudly took care of and learned from hundreds of returning prisoners of war. It was during his time in the service that he developed an ability to efficiently care for a high volume of patients. Upon returning to Vermont, he built a thriving cardiology practice at 235 Pearl Street in Burlington, working alongside his father until his father’s retirement. He remained busy in the office as well as the cath lab for more than four decades. It was not uncommon for him to evaluate and treat 30 to 60 patients a day. Despite the tempo, he took the time to know each patient’s story, who they were, what they did and what mattered to them. He always made time to cheer up a patient with one of his jokes (delivered with acumen for knowing his audience), which numbered in the hundreds. Chris was a doctor’s doctor. The child of a doctor, a brother to…

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