[2] The younger Glenn Terrell attended Davidson College in North Carolina for his bachelor's degree in political science, awarded in 1942.

Terrell served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and saw action at the D-Day invasion at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

[4][5] Terrell began his academic career as a psychology instructor at Florida State and rose to associate professor before he moved to the University of Colorado in 1955.

[13] In 1985, the year Terrell completed his service as WSU's president, he was honored by the University of Iowa with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

Son Glenn was first a teacher, then a lawyer, and then the longest-serving justice of the Florida Supreme Court; he served 41 years and died in 1964 at age 86, a day after announcing his upcoming retirement.