Theresa Marie Stemle

Terry Stemle died on January 26, 2023 at the age of ninety-nine. She was born Theresa Marie Day in New Albany, Indiana on December 3, 1923, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Day. As a girl she was active in music and athletics, playing on the first girls’ baseball team in New Albany. She graduated from St. Mary’s School at the head of her class. Terry played in the New Albany High School band and orchestra, and in her teenage years she participated in and taught 4-H and was also a Girl Scout leader.

At Indiana University Terry was a member of the Pleiades Honor Society, Zeta Tau Alpha and Beta Sigma Phi. She was also a class officer and earned an athletic letter. She graduated from the university’s school of business in 1947.

On June 10, 1950, Terry married Edward Stemle, Jr., and she and Ed began a family in New Albany before moving to Akron, Ohio in 1960 and then to East Lansing, Michigan in 1964. In East Lansing, she was an active member of the community, serving on a committee that established the Marvin Beekman Center in 1968. She later served on the Beekman board of directors for twenty-two years. She was a sportswoman who played softball into her sixties, golfed and cross country skied into her eighties, and bowled into her nineties. She was a painter and sculptor, and she loved to create crafts of all kinds.

Terry served as an election poll worker for decades and also worked in the East Lansing City Clerk’s office after her husband retired. She was a member of the St. Therese Guild and the Craft Guild at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in East Lansing.

Terry was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers John, Bob, Bud, and Bill; her sister Thelma; her husband Ed and sons Christopher and Drew. She is survived by her son Eric Stemle (Teresa), daughter Laura Stemle-Miller (Philip), grandchildren Paul Stemle (Amanda) and Ellen Hensel (Dustin), and two great-grandchildren.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, February 2 from 2:00—4:00 pm at Gorsline Runciman Funeral Home, 1730 E. Grand River Avenue, East Lansing, Michigan 48823. A second visitation will be held on Friday, February 3 at 10:00 am at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 955 Alton Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823. A funeral mass will follow at 11:00 am, with interment at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Lansing.

Memorial donations can be made to the Beekman Center of Lansing and St. Thomas Aquinas Church of East Lansing.