Gwen Hudson

It was at a teacher’s event where she heard Davenport West High School science teacher Jack Hudson speak. Gwen’s teaching colleague goaded her to meet him. Gwen and Jack’s first date included a school board meeting. They married in 1967 until Jack’s death in 2015.

Education infused Gwen’s life. Her mother was an elementary school teacher. Her father was an economics teacher, high school principal and musician. He doted on Gwen and music would become an indelible mark on her life. She was listening to recordings of her dad’s band in her final hours.

Gwen was born Nov. 5, 1938, in Indianola, Iowa. She was the only child of Harry and Ruth Grange. The three of them traveled extensively, seeding a strong love of exploration through her life. They visited Miami during her senior year in high school for the 1956 Orange Bowl before traveling to Havana. She said she learned two things in pre-Castro Cuba: how to smoke and how to drink coffee. When Cuba opened for American tourists in 2016, her son, Tom, asked his mom if she wanted to return 60 years later.

“No,” she said, “not while that family was still in charge of the island.”

Gwen wasn’t loud about her principles, but she was steadfast. She valued academic freedom, free expression and civic participation. She voted in every election she was eligible to, including in local elections this last Election Day, which fell one day before her 87th birthday. She also was a dedicated news consumer. She was a subscriber to her morning newspaper until she died.

Gwen graduated from Colorado Women’s College. She earned her undergraduate degree from Denver University and her Masters from Drake University. She began her teaching career in California. She returned to Iowa and found her way to Davenport where she became a fifth-grade teacher at Garfield Elementary School. She left the classroom to raise two children and returned to the fifth-grade classroom, this time at Eisenhower Elementary School in the mid-1980s. She retired in the 1990s to travel, play Bridge and spend time with Jack. She also volunteered at Junior Achievement and the Davenport Public Library.

Gwen believed in calling kids children and starting questions with “May I” not “Can I.” She also laughed with her mouth open and often drove her white 1965 Plymouth Fury convertible too fast.

Gwen is survived by her daughter, Jacolyn; son, Tom; daughter in-law, Tara Hudson; son in-law, Larry Davis; cousin, Aamanda Spangler; and grandsons, Lucas and Grant Hudson.

Her legacy is carried on through the thousands of students whose lives she touched with her gift of teaching and belief that every child was capable of learning.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00pm Saturday, December 27, 2025, at the Runge Mortuary & Crematory Davenport, Iowa. The family will greet friends 1 hour prior to the service. The family asks you to consider supporting literacy in the community by making a donation in Gwen's memory to Friends of the Davenport Public Library at FriendsofDavenportPublicLibrary.org. Please share condolences with the family at www.rungemortuary.com.

Perhaps there will be a snowstorm that day, which Gwen would love.