Cletus Albert Terwiske, 92, Hudson, Mass.
Cletus Albert Terwiske, 92, of Hudson, Massachusetts, passed away on April 26, 2018.
Cletus (“Lee”) was born in Celestine and grew up in Ireland.
He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action at the Battle of the Bulge. After the war ended, he remained in Europe serving with the military police in Paris, Munich, and Trieste, Italy. With his return to the U.S., he continued his military career with the Army Nike Missile Program and was stationed in various locations in the U.S. with notable stays at Wayland, Massachusetts, and Mahwah, New Jersey. He again served overseas in South Korea during the Pueblo Crisis of 1968. After his retirement from the Army in 1971, he joined the post office in Weston, Massachusetts, and finally retired in 1989. Cletus was past commander of the Hudson VFW and Sudbury American Legion.
Cletus is survived by his three children, Mary and her husband Rod Bowles of Newmarket, New Hampshire, John of Hudson, and Clete and his wife Karen of North Grafton. He is also survived by his two sisters, Mary Merkley and Monica Thacker of Dubois County; his grandchildren Katelynn (Terwiske) and her husband Ryan Walker of Leominster, Cletus Terwiske of Hudson, Elex (Page) and her husband Diego de Morais of North Grafton, Abigail (Bowles) and her husband Tim Horsfall of Bellevue, Washington, and Michael Bowles of Denver, Colorado; and his great-grandchildren Ellie and Tyler Walker, Lillian Horsfal and Cullen de Morais. His newest great-grandchild, Lillian’s sibling, will join the family in October.
He was predeceased by his wife Eleanor (Andrews) in 2007, with whom he shared over 50 years of marriage. He was also predeceased by his siblings James, Wes, Robert, Anthony, and Irene (Werne), all of Dubois County, and by Maurice, of Yorba Linda, California.
He is fondly remembered by his sisters-in-law Alma Terwiske of Yorba Linda, California, and Grace Kearney of Leominster, as well as many nieces and nephews and their families.
The funeral was held on Thursday, May 3, at the Curley-Marchand Funeral Home, 89 West St., Leominster, with a Mass at 11 a.m., in St. Leo’s Church, 108 Main St., Leominster. Burial followed at the Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon.
