Theresa Frances Arney, fondly known as “Terry,” was born in Anchorage, Alaska on October 21, 1949 to Robert and Ruth (Petersen) Arney. She passed away on Friday, August 12, 2022 at Mayo Health Clinic in Fairmont, Minnesota at the age of 72 years.
Theresa’s father worked for the United States Air Force, and when she was a child, the family was restationed to England, where she spent most of her childhood years in Ealing. She graduated from Central High School in London, England, then obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in Munich, Germany in 1972. Theresa’s love for reading, researching, and sharing information led her to earn a master’s degree from the University of Alabama in Library and Information in 1997.
Throughout her adult years she lived in many places across the United States, including Tennessee, California, North Carolina, and Maryland, and back where her family’s roots are in Ringsted, Iowa. Theresa enjoyed many careers throughout her life, but they all lead up to her final career as a resource librarian with the Administration on Aging with Health and Human Services. She was a member at many Christian churches throughout her travels.
Theresa enjoyed the arts, theater, creative cuisine, and loved listening to the music of Andrea Bocelli. Finding a good deal on real estate or a treasured antique brought happiness to Theresa’s life. Theresa was a devoted mother, and had a beautiful heart. She wanted to encourage and teach her daughter to give and serve those in need, and therefore signed them up to prepare and serve food once a week in a soup kitchen, for a full school year, when her daughter was a teen. She also had a love for reading, and more specifically loved children’s literature that was well illustrated. It brought her great joy to send her grandchildren beautiful books to read.
Theresa is survived by her daughter Heather (Tim) Reed, her grandchildren Sunny Rose, Asher Fox, and Atlas Wyn, and her siblings Christopher Arney and Leslie Lowery.
Theresa is preceded in death by her parents and brother in law Kennith Lowery.
A graveside service will take place in the Summer of 2023 at Ringsted Memorial Cemetery in Ringsted, Iowa.
Online condolences may be left for the family at www.henryolsonfuneral.com.
