Born Marianne Teruko Machida—known to everyone simply as Terri—lived a life woven together by beauty, intellect, creativity, and a quiet strength that sometimes roared when it needed to. She was a woman of deep heart and bright spirit: a devoted wife, a loving mother and grandmother, a gifted artist, a great laugher, a reader of everything, and a soul who moved through life with humility and grace.
Her story began in the Bronx at 7 a.m. on December 16, 1941—just days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was born into a world at war, the first child of a Japanese father and a Japanese-Irish-American mother, and grew up alongside her three younger siblings, and maternal grandparents in a small apartment on West 242nd Street, adjacent to Van Cortlandt Park in an Irish neighborhood.
A proud New Yorker, Terri carried with her the quiet dignity of two rich cultures (Irish and Japanese) and the lessons of hard times—standing in ration lines with her mother, sharing a single bedroom with her brothers and sister, and learning from an early age what it meant to make do, give thanks, and keep going.
Her father, faced with the command to return to Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor, chose instead to stay in the U.S., believing his young family would not survive wartime Japan. It was a difficult time, sustained by her mother’s work and punctuated by care packages sent across oceans to relatives they would not see for years. And yet even in struggle, Terri found joy—in books, in art, in music, and in the bonds of family.
She attended Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary School and later the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula. At Fordham University, where she studied English literature, she met a tall, kind-hearted man named Bill Hever at a campus dance. That night was the beginning of something extraordinary.
Terri’s early career led her to Manhattan, where she worked as a clerk and buyer for Bonwit Teller, the stylish department store on 56th Street. She loved sharing stories from that time—especially the day she met Margaret Hamilton, the actress behind the Wicked Witch of the West, who turned out to be anything but wicked in real life.
In 1964, Terri and Bill married, and soon after, life took them to Hawai‘i. Bill had been called to serve in naval intelligence during the Vietnam War, and together they embraced island life.
In Honolulu, their first daughter, Jennifer Mary, was born, and Terri began to bring her creativity to life through sewing—teaching herself how to craft, stitch, and design. It was there she began making Christmas ornaments by hand, each one a tiny piece of her heart that would decorate their tree every year and become part of the fabric of their family’s traditions.
When they returned to the mainland, the Hevers put down roots in New Jersey, first in Norwood and later Old Tappan. Their second daughter, Amy “Emiko” Jill, arrived in 1974, completing the little family that would be her life’s masterpiece. Terri finished her degree at Ramapo College, joined the local library board (a perfect fit for her book-loving soul), and continued to fill her home with warmth, learning, and art.
Then came Japan—a new chapter that unfolded in the 1980s, when Bill’s work with IBM brought the family to Tokyo. Terri, ever curious, ever brave, embraced it fully. She learned conversational Japanese with ease and began teaching English from their apartment in Hiroo.
Living in Japan gave her a deeper connection to her father’s roots and introduced her to a world of traditional Japanese arts—sumi-e painting, dollmaking, ikebana. She fell in love with the beauty of kabuki, the grace of sumo, the magic of the all-female Takarazuka Revue. And travel—oh, the travel. Terri wandered through Europe and Asia, collecting memories like souvenirs.
Back in New Jersey, she returned to her library board as their President, worked in customer service at Reckitt & Coleman, and helped Bill redesign their home. She even found herself in an unexpected real-life thriller—walking in on a burglary in progress by the notorious “James Bond Gang,” a moment that landed her on an episode of Masterminds, the British true crime series. In true Terri fashion, she told the story with understated flair and more than a little dry humor.
In 2011, she and Bill retired to Williamsburg, Virginia, where they found a warm, welcoming community in Ford’s Colony. There, they continued to travel, explore, and enjoy life together—partners in every way.
Then came the final chapters, written with courage and love. In 2018, Terri was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, beginning with aphasia. Though the disease slowly took her words, her warmth never left her. Her smile, her sense of humor, and her gentle presence remained. In 2019, she returned to Japan one last time, a journey made possible by the love of her family. She faced breast cancer with quiet resolve. And when the time came, she moved with her family to Somerset County, New Jersey, where she passed peacefully on July 28, 2025, with Bill and her daughters by her side. For 61 years, Bill stood beside her—her unwavering partner, her great love.
Terri leaves behind a family forever touched by her presence: her beloved husband Bill; her daughters Jennifer and Amy, granddaughter Stephanie, her siblings Bob, Dorry, and Bill, and her extended Machida family in Japan.
To know Terri was to know quiet elegance and joyful depth. She lived a life full of love, creativity, kindness, and gratitude. Her story is not just remembered—it is carried forward in the hearts of those she loved and those who loved her back.
© 2025 Amy “Emiko” Hever
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