Jeannine Aimee Hodson

At 2:22am on the 21st day of December, Jeannine Aimee Wagner Deduytsche Hodson left the world that she had known for 86 years and returned to the other side. The funeral service will take place at the Runge Mortuary Chapel on December 27th at 12:00pm, with visitation one hour prior. She will be laid to rest at Davenport Memorial Park.

Jeannine, or as her friends’ called her, Jean, was born in Paris, France to her loving parents, Felix Deduytsche and Marie (Wagner) Deduytsche. The year was 1938 and la belle France was occupied by the Germans. At one point in her childhood her father borrowed a bicycle and put Jean in his lap, one of her siblings on the handlebars, one on his shoulders and one on his back and pedalled through the night into the country to drop his children off at a convent where the nuns hid the children for their safety. Needless to say, her father was able to return, shortly after, to the convent and bring all the children home safely.

Jean grew up with five brothers (Felix, Jean-Claude, Robert, Roger, and Lucien) and four sisters (Lucienne, Aimee, Jaqueline, and Nicole). They lived in a small two bedroom home in the northern Parisien suburb of Gennevilliers. She lived in France from the time she was born till the time she met a young American G.I. from Bettendorf, Iowa who convinced her to get married and move to the states. Her first daughter, Veronique, was born in France. When Veronique was 5 months old, the whole family moved to Bettendorf in the snowy winter of 1965. Shortly after that Jean’s second daughter, Monique, was born and the Hodson family was complete.

Jean, her husband, “Bud”, and the girls lived in the same house in Bettendorf until they moved up the hill, just a block away, to live in Bud’s parent’s home. Jean was able to stay at home, what she wanted, until the last few weeks of her life that were spent at Genesis East Hospital and finally at Clarrissa C. Cook Hospice Home. The family would like to thank all of the wonderful nurses and doctors who cared for Jean these last few weeks.

Jean’s favorite pastime was playing the slot machines at the Isle Casino. She was very superstitious and hated it if you told her “good luck” when she was heading onto the gambling floor. She didn’t win as much as she would have liked but it didn’t stop her from trying. In her healthier days Jean also liked to go fishing with her husband and the two would spend the last two weeks of every July at Leech Lake. Of course, if they drove by a casino they would naturally pop in to try their luck.

Being born and raised in France left Jean quite the heavy French accent. She claimed that she taught herself English by watching American TV, namely “Days of our Lives”, a show she continued to watch most of her life. Some people had difficulty understanding her English but most people found her accent delightful and loved hearing her speak.

Besides her two daughters, Veronique (Shannon Trimble) and Monique (Danny Gentile), Jean’s pride and joy were her four grandchildren, Erin (Curtis Azim) Martin, Jonny (Renee) Fernandez, Genevieve (Bobby) Federighi, and Nicky (Claire) Fernandez, and her three great-grandchildren Dean, Evie-Jean, and Aubrey. Nothing brought a bigger smile to Jean than to see pictures of this beautiful bunch.

The last few months of Jean’s life were marred by poor health. The family is so thankful that she is no longer in pain. Jean’s daughter, Monique, has been a tremendous help to her mother, arranging her medical appointments, therapies, medicines, food, etc. She truly made Jean’s last days as wonderful as they could be. There is no way to thank her for everything she has done.

As a tribute to Jean the family suggests that instead of flowers or donations, grab a friend or a family member that you haven’t seen recently, drive down to the Isle Casino, walk over to the Slot Machines, find the nickel machines, throw $20 into the machine and press the spin button. If you hit a jackpot, hurray! If you don’t, hopefully you will have had a good time and have a great memory to share. A la votre!