Her life

## A maker, through and through

Born March 25, 1947 — Chicago, IL
Married Wayne H. Tess, July 24, 1999
Career Waushara County Human Services, retired 2011
Guild Prairie Pointers Quilters Guild
Also loved Horses, endurance riding, her garden, reading

Trudy grew up in Illinois before settling in the Hancock area of Wisconsin, where she worked for years with Waushara County Human Services' Child Support office until her retirement in 2011. But ask anyone close to her, and they'll tell you her real hours were spent elsewhere — outdoors among her flowers, watching the wildlife around the house, lost in a book, or, more often than not, at the sewing machine.

She was a devoted member of the Prairie Pointers Quilters Guild, where she found a community of fellow makers who traded fabric, patterns, and friendship for years. The quilts in this gallery, in stars, baskets, pineapples, and little patchwork houses, are a small part of what she pieced together over a lifetime at the machine.

"Trudy loved the outdoors, tending to her flowers, watching the wildlife around their home, spending hours quilting and reading books."

Before quilting filled her days, horses did. In her younger years she competed in 50-mile endurance races, earning Rookie of the Year in her very first season — the same patience and grit that quilting asks of a person, just on horseback instead of at a frame.

She is remembered by her husband Wayne; her children John, Brian, and Lisa; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; her siblings; stepdaughters Erin and Stacey; and the many nieces, nephews, friends, and guild sisters whose names are stitched, quite literally, into one of the quilts below.

The quilts

## Twelve quilts, one lifetime of stitching

Each one pieced and quilted by Trudy. Click any quilt to see it larger.

Signed by her guild sisters

## A quilt with her friends' own hands in it

One block carries the signatures of fellow Prairie Pointers Quilters Guild members — Elaine, Ginger, Peggy, Linda, Dorothy, Sandy, Marsha, Sonia, Jackie, Barb, and more — stitched in thread on a corner of one of her quilts. A reminder that quilting, for Trudy, was never a solitary craft.

## Celebration of Life

Family and friends are invited to gather and remember Trudy — her quilts, her garden, her horses, and the woman who made time for all of it.

Any memorial gifts will be donated on her behalf to her favorite charities.

Visitation
Thursday, June 18, 2026
10:00 – 11:30 AM (Central)
Celebration of Life
Starts at 11:30 AM
Stahl Funeral Home
913 W North St, Plainfield, WI 54966