For INT-DOM at ORD, one clears immigration and customs in T5, then must take the train over to T1 and get rescreened by the TSA. I have gone from arriving aircraft at T5 to airside in T1 in 40 minutes, but that was a quiet day.

I assume you were thinking of staying airside in T1, and meeting your wife after she makes it through security. One obvious landmark in ORD is the large (4-story tall) dinosaur skeleton immediately after the T1 security checkpoint, across from either gate B8 or gate B9. Maybe hang out near the skeleton after your wife's plane has arrived and she has had time to make it over to T1?