Terry Lee Hewitt

April 27, 1933 — December 13, 2025

Terry Lee Hewitt was born in Fargo, North Dakota on April 27, 1933, during the worst of the Great Depression. He lived in western Minnesota until age five when his family moved to Moline, Illinois. He was the eldest of four, with one brother and two sisters.

Terry was quiet, intelligent, and athletic. He enjoyed playing baseball and tennis. In his junior year of high school, he entered the brand new Alleman High School in Rock Island, Illinois. After graduation, he attended St. Ambrose College in the pre-engineering program, before achieving his life goal of attending the University of Notre Dame. He left Notre Dame for the Army, and was stationed in Erlangen, Germany, where he began to fulfill his desire for travel. After discharge, he attended the University of Illinois on the G.I. Bill. He met Angelice Lyons through the Catholic Youth Organization, and they were married in 1958.

In the late 1950s, Terry earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois. Upon graduation, he accepted a position with the Research and Development Center at General Electric in Schenectady, New York. During his time there, he was awarded a number of patents. And together with Angie, he produced five children in quick succession. Terry was heavily involved in progressive causes, both within the Catholic Church and in the broader community throughout the 1960s.

After working for GE in Virginia for part of the 1970s, he headed to his new favorite place: Oregon, in 1980, to work as an engineer. His engineering career had tracked the nascent field of computers, beginning with his introduction to one of the first computers, Illiac (with its vacuum tubes), at the University of Illinois, to his work on some of the first medical devices towards the end of his career in Oregon. While working as an engineer, Terry also attended the University of Portland, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. Single again in the late 1980s, he met the love of his life Trudi Rezvani. Trudi became his wife in 1995. In 2025, they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.

Terry continued to champion progressive causes throughout his life, never missed a Notre Dame football game, amassed hundreds of books, clocked many pool laps, took thousands of photographs, and never lost his amazement of Trudi. He and Trudi travelled extensively, attended operas and solar eclipses, audited dozens of classes at Portland State University, checked daily weather reports of the many places their children and grandchildren resided, and generally enjoyed each other's company and those of their friends. They moved to Arizona in 2020 to be near Trudi's sister.

Terry had a grand 90th birthday party with friends and family in 2023. He was heartbroken when Trudi passed this past September, but continued to press on towards his mid-90s goal. He passed in December following complications from a fall. Terry is survived by his brother Jim, and his children Patrick Hewitt and wife Tricia, Michael Hewitt and wife Gayle, Mark Hewitt, Mary Capdeville, grandchildren, and even some great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his sisters Gayle and Judy, brother in law Jack, by his daughter Teresa, daughter in law Robin, and his beloved Trudi.

A Celebration of Life will be held for Terry and for Trudi on July 25, in Beaverton, Oregon.