TERRY LEE WESSELS

Terry loved many things: his wife Terri, his sons Brandon and Bryce, his family, his hometown of Palmer, his friends, and his Wessels Oil employees.

Terry Wessels was born June 11, 1964, in Fort Dodge. He graduated from Palmer High School in 1982, where he was a standout in basketball, baseball and track. Terry was on the ground floor of the Palmer Panthers basketball dynasty of the 1980s, playing on the 1979 state tournament team, leading the team in scoring as a senior and then playing two years at Westmar College in LeMars.

He married Terri Whitecotton on July 27, 1985, in Palmer, finding in a Manson girl someone who could match him shot for shot on the basketball court and laugh for laugh in their daily lives.

Terry began working for his father Ron Wessels and uncle Rick Wessels at Wessels Oil Company as a teenager and never really stopped, eventually becoming President and Director of Sales.

Terry was the mayor of Palmer from 2005 until his passing and served on the city council for seven years before that. He was a member of the Iowa Central Board of Trustees, an assistant fire chief for the Palmer volunteer fire department, a St. Paul Lutheran Church council member and on the organizing committee for the Palmer Centennial.

Terry is survived by his wife Terri of Palmer, sons Brandon and Bryce of Palmer, parents Ronald and Elizabeth (Janssen) Wessels of Palmer, brother Jeff Wessels (Debra) of Edina, Minn., sister Lisa Abens of Manson, along with his nieces and nephews Kelsey, Andy, Kinsey, Eric and Taylor.

A wake will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Palmer, and the funeral is Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church. Memorials may be left to the discretion of the family.

Powers Funeral Home in Pocahontas is handling the arrangements. For online condolences and obituaries, visit: www.PowersFH.net.