Daryl D. Wiley

Daryl Wiley, beloved husband and father and grandfather, passed away surrounded by his family on February 23, 2026. Born in Del Rapids South Dakota in 1933 to Doris and Ray Wiley, Daryl lived a long and interesting life. From early adventures, like riding his bicycle from his home in Maywood, IL to visit relatives in Maitland, MO at age 12, to camping adventures with his children, cruises to the Galapagos Islands and trips to Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land with his wife, Daryl loved to learn, travel and explore. He had a silly sense of humor and often made up stories to regale his children with at bedtime or on long car rides. He also was quite thrifty, and his children will attest to picnic lunches eaten in cemeteries instead of restaurants while driving cross country with the windows rolled down instead of air conditioning to save money on gas while listening to crazy stories, silly music and eye-roll worthy jokes.

He was an avid photographer and participated in Camera Club for decades, winning multiple prizes for photos he took and developed in his basement darkroom. He also was a master woodworker and built most of the wooden furniture in his home and those of his children and even his grandchildren, including fireplace mantles, kitchen cabinets, armoires, tables, bookshelves, and dressers. He also enjoyed building his own computers and was an early adopter of many of the technologies we all enjoy today. Daryl graduated from Iowa State University and worked as an electrical engineer. During his career, he developed patents, worked on radios that were utilized in the Apollo and Gemini capsules for the space program, and served in Germany for the US Army during the Korean War. He also greatly enjoyed music, playing clarinet through high-school as well as the organ and piano He enjoyed attending Ragtime music festivals and other musical events whenever he could.

Daryl is survived by his loving wife, Gerri, his children Jennifer (Scott), Laura, and Jim, his grandchildren, Zachary (Amanda), Kyle (Jena), Brittany, Courtney, Alexander, Veronika (Connor), Rebecca, Elizabeth, Emily, and Ethan, 13 great grandchildren, his sister, Judy Gerken, his nephews Craig (Merilyn), Jay (Kelly) and Randy (Jodi), and his ex-wife and good friend, Janice.

Services will be held on March 21 at 11am at the First Presbyterian Church of Wheaton (715 N Carleton Ave). A reception with light lunch will follow at the church. Daryl chose cremation, and his ashes will be scattered at Beaver Lake, AR, in one of his favorite places, this summer.