Terry Charles Vanderplas, 83, passed away peacefully at home, with his loving husband by his side, following a ten month battle with prostate cancer. He was born in Centralia, IL, to Ray H. and Alice (Cooke) Vanderplas, of Lake City, KS, on October 31, 1939.
After brief stays in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, Ray and Alice settled in Phillipsburg, KS. Terry graduated from Phillipsburg High School, and earned his BA in Fine Arts (Ceramics) from the University of Kansas. As an undergraduate, he was one of seven students from across the country to be awarded a Heritage Foundation Summer Fellowship, in Deerfield, MS.
He started working on a Masters in Library Science at Kent State, but returned to KU where he earned most of a Masters in Jewelry and Silversmithing. The Heritage Foundation interrupted his studies by offering him a position as silversmith at Historic Deerfield and docent of their extensive collection of early American silver. While there he traveled to the major museums around the county with extensive collections of early American silver, photographing makers marks for a book being co-written by Henry Flint, Director of the Heritage Foundation. He was eventually promoted to Assistant Curator of the Heritage Foundation.
In April 1967, on a chance visit with a friend to sample the nightlife in nearby Springfield, MA, he met his future partner and husband-to-be, Stephen Backiel. They dated for 17 months, and Steve earned his masters, and was accepted into the Naval Officer Training program. With Steve leaving for the Navy, Terry decided to complete his masters in Library Science at Univ. of Oklahoma. After graduation, he was able to join Steve in Houston, TX, where he was living, since being posted to shore duty at the U S Navy’s first ROTC unit at an historically black college, Prairie View A&M. Terry was hired there as Head of Acquisitions for the library system. Mid-way through his tenure, he was proud to learn from one of his student workers that the word on campus was, “If you want a great job, for a great boss, work for Vanderplas at the library.”
Terry moved with Steve to Knoxville, TN in August of 1973, for Steve to pursue graduate work in school psychology. There being no librarian jobs available, a good friend referred him to the display department at Miller’s Department Stores. As Head Craftsman of the display department, he was in charge of building large and small props, tables, window backdrops, sets for fashion shows, as well as producing all of the 3-dimensional lettering identifying departments for all 12 Millers stores in East Tennessee.
Terry was a life-long collector of diverse items, from fossils and Native American artifacts, to Victorian glass tumblers, books on gemstones and Art Deco, Star Wars lightsabers, toy robots and transformers, paint-by-number paintings, and Japanese pottery. A casual purchase of a coin bank/pot metal souvenir of the New York Life Ins. Co. building eventually led to a hobby of collecting souvenir buildings, from the Empire State Bldg and the Washington Monument, to cathedrals, castles, banks, and monuments from around the world. As active collectors for 40 years, he and Steve’s collection now numbers over 1,000 buildings.
Terry was preceded in death by his parents, and cousins Dana Trump and Carol Rogers.
He is survived by Steve Backiel, his partner of 55 years, and husband for the last six years, following their marriage by Mayor Madeline Rogero in her office on April 1, 2016, as well as by his brother Kent Vanderplas, of Wichita, KS, and many dear cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors.
Terry will be fondly remembered as a talented, funny, and unique friend. Steve’s sister described Terry as the personification of nice. He went out of his way trying to make others feel better, and was perpetually lending a helping hand to his friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances and even strangers. He was always ready to expertly repair or refinish a friend’s broken/chipped/weathered coffee mug, chair, trunk, or small appliance. Finding decorative or useful items at yard sales and antique malls to brighten a friend’s home or garden brought him great joy.
He greeted everyone with a smile. He left tips for the busboy under his plate at buffets. He was often the last one of our group to leave a restaurant because he had stopped to tell the manager how great the waitstaff was. He insisted on thanking all service personnel by their name. He routinely praised the “charming and helpful” manner of salesclerks, doctors, nurses, care givers, etc. Invariably their response would be, “Oh thank you! No one has ever said that to me!”
Terry delighted in amusing people with his quirky sense of humor. He loved to do silly, unexpected things, like tying artificial flowers on the rhododendron by the front door, two months before it was due to bloom. He decorated the cat door to look like the entrance to an Egyptian tomb. His hand-written letters usually had titles at the top of each page, totally unrelated to its contents, such as, “Part 2: The Squirrel Incident,” then “Part 3: Mr. Bealer is Taken Captive.” He surrounded the thermostat on the dining room wall with a collection of antique thermostats, so that the working unit “did not stick out like a sore thumb!”
A Celebration of Life party will be held January 19, 2023 at Relix, 1208 N. Central St., Knoxville, TN 37917, 7:30 -10:30PM. Souvenirs from Terry’s collections will be available for guests to take home as a memento of our dear friend.
