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He was homeless but not in the ways most people think of homeless men. Just ask those who saw him regularly.

“ItÃÛèÖÊÓƵ hard on all of us right now,â€� said Joan Reddell, a bartender at the Looking Glass, a downtown tavern where Terry often spent his mornings as he waited for Hedberg Public Library to open.

Terry would drink coffee with staff members, who sometimes made him pancakes with leftover batter, and they bought him breakfast on Sundays, Reddell said.

“If you offered (food) to him, he would take it, but he never asked,� Reddell said.

“He was wonderful. He was just sweet,� Reddell said.

Terry was found behind a set of wooden doors that enclose an area where trash bins are kept behind the Olde Towne Mall, 20 S. Main St.

Two mall tenants found the body late Monday morning. He was in a sleeping bag, said mall manager Jackie Woods.

Police said the 58-year-oldÃÛèÖÊÓƵ death was not suspicious. The official cause of death might not be known for weeks, but family members said they were told it was a heart attack.

The last homeless person known to have died outdoors in Janesville was Daniel L. Eccles, 68, whose body was found in the Rock River in August 2018. Police at the time said the death appeared accidental, and the medical examinerÃÛèÖÊÓƵ office suggested Eccles had a heart condition.

‘S·É±ð±ð³Ù-²Ô²¹³Ù³Ü°ù±ð»å’

Many knew Terry as a quiet man who kept to himself.

Stephanie Burton from the GIFTS menÃÛèÖÊÓƵ shelter characterized him as a “kindâ€� and “sweet-natured.â€�

Wood, who has run the Olde Towne Mall for years, exchanged pleasantries with Terry last week. She described him as always nicely dressed.

Wood knew he had been sleeping near the trash bins in recent months. She has found homeless people sleeping in the same area on many occasions through the years.

“He wasn’t one of the really down-and-out homeless people. He had family that cared about him,� Wood said. “He was always very nice, very pleasant. He had a nice sleeping bag, and he chose to live that way.�

Courtney Smith, who graduated with Terry in 1981 from Janesville Craig High School, renewed their acquaintance about four years ago when she saw him at the Olde Towne Mall, where she works.

She recognized the bearded man with long gray hair by his voice, which pleasantly surprised him.

“His eyes just sparkled,� she recalled.

Ever since, Terry was very nice to her and always remembered her husbandÃÛèÖÊÓƵ name, Smith said.

Hedberg Public Library Director Bryan McCormick said Terry was at the library every day and spent much of the day there, sometimes falling asleep in a chair but never causing any trouble.

“We got used to him. He was like one of us,� McCormick said.

TerryÃÛèÖÊÓƵ niece Lindsay Wester said her uncle was troubled, however.

He always was pleasant when he encountered family members but didn’t get involved in their lives, Wester said.

“There was definitely effort put in to try get him to come over, and he was never upset or mad or anything. He just declined,� Wester said. “There was definitely mental illness but nothing we could get diagnosed because he was not a harm to anybody or to himself, and when that happens, you can’t force him to get help.

“There wasn’t much the family could do except offer help,� she continued. He usually declined.

Terry was also known for declining local services.

Jessica Locher of ECHO said her organizationÃÛèÖÊÓƵ homeless outreach coordinator and the police departmentÃÛèÖÊÓƵ homeless outreach team had been trying for months to get Terry to accept services.

‘A good man’

Wester said Terry was one of four children of Bernice and Martin Terry.

He was a U.S. Marine who served in Hawaii and Okinawa, Wester said.

He had been homeless nine or 10 years, and before that he worked night shifts at two local businesses, Prent Corp. and Janesville Products, she said.

Reddell said Terry was at the Looking Glass the day before he died. He asked, “Do you know about the forecast through this coming week? Because I’m sick of this cold.�

Terry complained of pain in his leg. She gave him ibuprofen, and he told her later he felt better.

Reddell said she had offered to buy him something alcoholic when she was hanging out at the bar, but he always refused.

Lt. Charles Aagaard of the police detective bureau said Terry “was not like any kind of person we had regular, negative contacts with. … He was not that type of person.�

Terry was wearing cold-weather clothing, Aagaard said. The low temperature Monday morning was 19.

Others who knew him, including his niece, said he wasn’t involved in alcohol or drugs.

Wester said Terry never got upset when family members brought up his living situation, but he seemed content with it and never complained.

“He was a good man who liked to keep to himself,â€� Wester said. “The fact that thereÃÛèÖÊÓƵ talk about where he was found, that doesn’t reflect him or his life.â€�

Smith last saw him Saturday morning, as she often did, waking up near the trash bins behind the building, the same place where he died about two days later.

He asked what time it was. When she told him 8:30, he was surprised, saying he never sleeps that late.

Smith once asked Terry if he was cold, sleeping on the ground outside. He said no, “I have the best sleeping bag money can buy.�