Terry Lynn Wetz, a quiet, charming, and upbeat person with a deceptively strong drive to make the most of her life, passed away on January 30, 2025, at the age of 76.  To answer the immediate question, she did make the most of her life. Terry was born on July 15, 1948, in Marietta, Ohio across the Ohio River from West Virginia.  As a little girl her family moved to Portsmouth, Ohio and after middle school, her family moved to Huber Heights, Ohio just north of Dayton.  After graduating with honors from Wayne High School in 1966 she landed her first job with the federal government as a computer operator at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, also in Dayton. Today her position would be part of the Information Technology (IT) sector. In 1971, when she was 23, she moved, by herself, to Chicago taking another IT position in the regional office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Terry volunteered for a special IT assignment for the Corps of Engineers in 1977 that took her to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for one year. It was a challenging time, but she successfully carried out her work while having to navigate the religious requirements of an Islamic country. Terry came back to Chicago in 1978 and continued with the Corps of Engineers.  The late 1980’s and early 1990’s were pivotal times for Terry.  In 1987 she graduated with a bachelor’s degree from DePaul University, in 1988 she married her long-time boyfriend, Jim Filippini, and in 1992 their son Marcus came into their lives. Terry and Jim were married for 37 years.  Their first home was a lovely old house, from the 1920s, on the north side of Chicago where they raised Marcus and refurbished it to perfection.  With their second home they made the move out of the City to Elmhurst, Illinois, to a newer, 1939 home, and once again worked their creative magic on making it a delight.  Their final home was a modern home in Oak Brook, Illinois. Terry’s IT career took her to the Chicago offices of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from where she retired.  She held a senior IT position at ICE, frequently working with the regional director and his staff.  Terry did consulting work for a few years after retiring but she also invested significant energy in advocating for her son Marcus and his education at the local, state and federal levels.  Her life-long quiet determination and persistence always resulted in positive results.  Terry’s life however wasn’t all work.  She loved tastefully decorating her houses, gardening, and shopping.  Terry could spend an entire day going from store to store, looking at everything and maybe buying one thing. However, her trips through the stores helped her decorate her beautiful houses and gardens. Terry’s husband Jim comes from a large family and one or more of his siblings were often traveling somewhere.  Jim and Terry, or just Terry, would join them for trips to Europe and within the US.  

Terry was very close to her grandparents, Albert and Verna Wetz, her son Marcus’ middle name is Albert in his honor.  Terry would regale her friends with delightful stories of Verna, her six-foot-tall grandmother, who would throw a blanket over her dining room table for little Terry to make a pretend house or castle and then climb in with her to play.  

Terry is the daughter of Jaunita (Hughes) and Richard Wetz, and she has two siblings, her sister Nan Arnett (Charles) and her brother Dane Wetz (Lynn).  Her husband Jim’s family includes his siblings, Richard Filippini (Sue), Mary Filippini, Robert Filippini, Anne Overbey (Randy), Mark Filippini (Gary Main) and youngest sister, Elizabeth Fessenden (Robert).  Terry also has numerous nephews and nieces.