Teresa was born February 19, 1956, to Francis & Violet (Clark) Neff on an Air Force base in Topeka, KS. She was the second child of six. Our Lord called Teresa home on January 3, 2026. She passed away quietly in her sleep at home. Her health had been failing due to congestive heart disease.

Teresa was always a happy, sweet-natured and sociable person. She loved to visit and never lacked for things to talk about. Her sense of humor and personality kept family and friends laughing and entertained. She was always pleasant unless you made her mad. Then she would let you know exactly where you stood. But she was always quick to apologize if she thought she hurt your feelings.

Teresa’s life was blessed with the birth of her little girl, Amber Machteld, on May 14, 1990. Amber was her life and light. They did everything together. Amber was her best friend and they both had the same funny sense of humor. They were 2 halves of a whole. Teresa missed their special times together when Amber moved to Michigan. Teresa’s joy overflowed with the birth of two beautiful granddaughters, Elise and Gwen. She spent time with them baking cookies, doing arts and crafts, going out to eat, reading stories and watching movies. They will miss the “perfect” gifts she aways brought them but especially her hugs and kisses because they knew how much she loved them. Their time together was always special and fun quality time, and they looked forward to each visit.

Teresa was an encourager to many. She could see the possibilities in someone and encouraged them to believe in themselves so they could accomplish just about anything. She did this with younger children and especially her own granddaughters. Her belief in them always and her positive attitude has given them confidence they need to achieve many things.

She loved reading, sewing, crafting, and putting together puzzles and flower gardening. She was the best gift giver and took special care and time shopping for the perfect gift and couldn’t wait to see everyone’s reaction when opened. She was very creative and would often embellish her gift items with some glitter and glitz. She loved craft shows and marveled at the details of each crafted item and the creativity of each artisan.

Teresa held various job positions in her lifetime, including waitress, banker and office custodian. She was working for a cleaning service in a federal building when she saw a job posting for a federal position. She applied and started her career with the federal service in Louisville, KY, May 1987 as a clerk/typist. She moved to the US Army Corp of Engineers in 2002 to the Quad cities. She was promoted several times and was an Administrative Support Assistant for the last 10 years of her federal service. Teresa served 38 ½ years in federal service. She took utmost pride in her work and dedicated her life to it. Her boss, Rich Busch shared that Teresa was a very dedicated and hard worker, detail-oriented and a very caring person and she would be missed.

She was baptized at a young age and is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Those left to cherish her memory are her daughter Amber Neff (Eric Belmont), granddaughters Elise Machteld Garcia and Gwenivere Joan Garcia of Mattawan, MI, mother, Violet Neff of Monroe, IA, siblings, Renee’ (Greg) Leonard of Correctionville, IA, Brent (Linda) Neff of Des Moines, IA, Kent Neff of Monroe, IA, Bryan Neff of Chariton, IA and Francene’ (Keith) Leonard of Holstein, IA and many nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts and uncles. She is proceeded in death by her nephews, Cason Hutton and Mason Leonard and her dad, Francis Neff.

A lifetime of memories, her quick smile, sense of humor, infectious laugh and her caring, giving nature will be remembered by every life she touched or influenced.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to the family for a memorial to be established locally.