{"id":37208,"date":"2026-05-29T11:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=37208"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:51:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:51:41","slug":"terry-thatcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/terry-thatcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry Thatcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Terry M. Thatcher, 73, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, passed away on Friday, May 22, 2026, one day shy of his 74th birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He dedicated nine years of service to Harvester, built a successful career as a siding contractor, and later retired from Dana Axle. In his younger years, Terry had a deep love for horses and a passion for competitive barrel racing. He was best known for his contagious laugh, answering to his favorite nickname &#8220;Papa Turd&#8221;, enjoying a fine pilsner, and sporting his finest Harley shirt and jean shorts\u2014even in the winter. Terry loved spending time with his friends and family, camping, riding his motorcycle, and making sure he was the tannest one in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"340\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Thumbnail.webp?resize=340%2C440&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Thumbnail.webp?w=340&amp;ssl=1 340w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Thumbnail.webp?resize=232%2C300&amp;ssl=1 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is survived by his spouse, Lynn; sisters, Diana Hoffman and Rhonda (Jeff) Smelser; daughter, Jessica (Matt Elsea) Thatcher; stepchildren, Ryan (Lisa) Heyn, Molly (Greg) Mittendorf, and Taylor (Jake) Rhoades; and 11 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Graydon and Janice Thatcher; brothers, Bruce and Tommy Thatcher; and brother-in-law, Michael Hoffman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There will be a celebration of life at a later date, as we all know Terry loved a great party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Terry M. Thatcher, 73, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, passed away on Friday, May 22, 2026, one day shy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-37208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries","tag-obit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37210,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37208\/revisions\/37210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}