Terry Cole-Whittaker (born December 3, 1939, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

), or Dr. Terry, is a New Thought author and

United Church of Religious Science The Centers for Spiritual Living, or CSL, is a spiritual philosophy promoting Religious Science that was founded by Ernest Holmes in 1926. Before 2011, it was two organizations known as United Centers for Spiritual Living (formally, United Church ...

minister, and the founder of Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries and Adventures in Enlightenment.

History

She became familiar with what she calls the "principles of prosperity" through the actions of a teacher in high school. She would later go on to enter the

Mrs. America Pageant Mrs. America Pageant is a beauty competition that was established to honor married women throughout the United States of America. Each of the contestants representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia ranges in age from their 20s to 50s ...

, becoming Mrs. California and winning third place in the national competition. She later joined the

Los Angeles Civic Light Opera The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera (LACLO) was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seaso ...

and became an opera singer. She would not stay in this position long, however. She went on to start a company, ''Success Plus'', in which she became one of the first conductors of human potential seminars for corporations, becoming a motivational and inspirational speaker. She went on to earn a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1973, and was ordained as a minister of the ''United Church of Religious Science'' in 1975, and became the pastor of a fifty-member congregation of that church in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

in 1977. The church grew under her leadership, drawing numbers as high as 5,000 for

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

, and eventually expanded to include a grammar school, ministry school, and five teaching centers. She also began a television program in 1979, which at one time was syndicated to fifteen television stations in the country. Stressing that “You can have it all — now!,” she encouraged her listeners, week after week, to seek prosperity, power, and abundance.Victor Bondi, ed. ''American Decades: 1980-1989'' (Detroit: Gale Research, 1996), 392. In 1982, Cole-Whittaker left the ''United Church of Religious Science'' and founded ''Terry Cole-Whittaker Ministries''. She drew over 4,000 people to her weekly services and provided her followers with newsletters and instructional videos. Her celebrity parishioners included:

Gavin MacLeod Gavin MacLeod () (born Allan George See; February 28, 1931 – May 29, 2021) was an American actor best known for his roles as news writer Murray Slaughter on ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and ship's captain Merrill Stubing on ABC's '' The Love ...

Linda Gray Linda Ann Gray (born September 12, 1940) is an American film, stage and television actress, director, producer and former model, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing, the long-suffering wife of Larry Hagman's character J.R. Ewing on the CB ...

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the varie ...

, and

Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who had hits on the pop and Latin pop charts. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on albums and telev ...

.“Abrupt Exit: The Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker, Woman evangelist's goodbye”, ''Time Magazine'' (Monday, Apr. 22, 1985). Despite raising $6 million in 1984, her ministry raked in a debt of around $400,000 in 1985,Jenifer Waren, �
Terry Cole-Whittaker Says Goodby to Her Congregation
��, ''Los Angeles Times'' (Apr. 8, 1985). prompting her to cease production of the television show and leave her congregation during Easter.Armando Acuna, �

��, ''Los Angeles Times'' (Feb. 28, 1986). By October, she had created a new foundation, ''Adventures in Enlightenment'', which organized “spiritual” adventure tours allowing participants to meet with her one-on-one in exotic locations, e.g. Machu Picchu, the Himalayas. The Foundation later purchased land in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

to build a retreat center and start an organic farm and started an ashram and library in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to teach Westerners traditional Indian religion.

Published works

* ''What You Think of Me is None of My Business'' (1979). * ''How to Have More in a Have Not World'' (1983). * ''Inner Path from the Goddess Within'' * ''Dare to Be Great'' (2001) * ''Creating Your Destiny – A Remarkable Guide to Making Decisions that Give You Happiness and Prosperity'' * ''Every Saint Has a Past, Every Sinner a Future:Seven Steps to the Spiritual and Material Riches of Life'' * ''The Inner Path from where you are to where you want to be'' * ''Love and Power in a World without Limits'' * ''Live Your Bliss'' (2009)

References

External links

ISBNdb search of author's works

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole-Whitaker, Terry 1939 births Living people Mrs. America (contest) delegates New Thought writers People from San Diego Religious Science clergy

History

Published works

References

Further reading

External links