Ira Gordon Colby III, known as Terry, was born in New Haven, on July 7, 1934 to Ira Gordon Colby Jr. and Mary Tatnall Colby. He grew up in Woodbridge, attended local schools and The Foote School, graduated in 1952 from The Taft School, and headed to Dartmouth. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1955. He received his honorable discharge in 1958, returned to his Dartmouth class of 1956, but graduated in 1959. Later that year, he married Penelope Betts Colby. Together they moved to Virginia where Terry attended the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville, receiving his degree in 1962. Upon graduation, he joined the New Haven law firm of Daggett, Colby, and Hooker, in which his father was a partner, and moved to North Guilford, where he and Penny raised their three children Ira Gordon Colby IV, Andrea Shippen Colby, and Martha Bannerman Colby.

Terry played his clarinet or saxophone throughout his life, from Dartmouth’s Barbary Coast, to the 1st Armored Division band, to lawyers’ Dixieland bands, all known as Advocats. He hiked with the Keyharts Klammerers, served on several Guilford boards and committees and the Clean Plate Club; he split wood, mowed the lawn, dug gardens, fed birds, and canoed whenever possible. He liked building bookcases and cat tables, Maine, making maple syrup, roadtrips to Yellowstone, vintage wooden boats, naps, games, peanut butter and tomato sandwiches, Lake Sunapee, early morning swims, and clouds.

Terry died on July 3. He leaves his wife; his three children; daughter-in-law Lili Koch Colby; five grandchildren: Emilie Catherine Colby, Alexandrie Justine Colby, Ira Gordon Colby V, Thomas Kelson Wiggins, and Kathryn Colby Wiggins; and three siblings, James Gibbons Colby, Jonathan Tatnall Colby, and Eleanor Colby Zue. He was predeceased by his son-in-law Frederick Wiggins.

A memorial service for Terry will be held in November. In lieu of flowers, gifts in Terry’s memory may be made to the Guilford Preservation Alliance, PO Box 199, Guilford, CT 06437 or the Guilford Land Trust, PO Box 200, Guilford CT 06437. The Hawley Lincoln Memorial, Guilford is in charge of arrangements.