Wilhelmina Edna (Eckey) Terry “Mina”

WALLINGFORD, Conn. – Wilhelmina Edna (Eckey) Terry “Mina”, passed away peacefully on Nov. 15, 2022, in Wallingford, Conn. She was born on Nov. 27, 1920, in Mt. Union, Iowa. She was the daughter of Nellie G. (Kuhlman) and Rudolph Peter Eckey. Mina graduated from Earlham College in 1942, with a degree in Home Economics. Wilhelmina met her husband, Robert Lee Terry, at Earlham College, and they were married on March 7, 1943.
While her husband served in the Army, Mina worked in several Philadelphia area businesses, including the Human Resources Department at the Campbell Soup Company. When Robert returned from the service, he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Pennsylvania. His first teaching position was at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., where their daughter, Martha Lee Terry, and son, James Robert Terry, were born. They then went to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where Stephen West Terry was born. In 1952, they moved to Waterville, Maine, the home of Colby College, and Robert taught there until his retirement in 1983.
As was the culture at the time, Mina was a stay-at-home mom while her children were growing. She enjoyed a memorable year as a long-term substitute Home Economics teacher at Waterville Junior High School, an opportunity to get to know her daughter and her daughter’s friends in a different light. She also enjoyed a brief period of teaching nutrition at the Maine School for Practical Nurses, as well as a short time as a real estate agent. Somehow, family demands seemed to intervene in her working life as she cared for her mother-in-law for several years, and her mother, for a shorter time.
Mina was involved in the community life of Waterville as PTA President at Averill School, the Waterville AAUW, Thayer Hospital Auxiliary volunteer, and the Colby College Art Museum. She worked with newcomers to Waterville as a Literacy Volunteer. She was a frequent chaperone for her children’s school field trips, and she accompanied the Colby Outing Club on some memorable adventures during her husband’s years as adviser to that group.
She is survived by her daughter, Martha Terry Djang and her husband Fred; her son, Stephen Terry and his wife Andrea.
Family and friends may pay their respects on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, from 5-7 p.m., at the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home, 615 South Main St., Cheshire, Conn. Burial will be private.
To read the full obituary, please visit http://www.fordfh.com
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Connecticut Children’s Foundation, Inc., PO Box 412901, Boston, MA 02241-2901 or online at http://www.connecticutchildrensfoundation.org/ways-give