September 28, 1924-January 19, 2020
EAST MOLINE — Joanne DeVrieze, 95, died Sunday, Jan. 19, in her apartment at Park Vista North Hill.
Visitation is scheduled at Van Hoe's Funeral Home, East Moline, from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, with a rosary at 4 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 24, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Silvis. A luncheon will follow in the church hall.
Joanne was a devout Catholic, and relied on her deep faith when confronted by heartache and loss. She was a loving mother, a devoted friend and she spread joy everywhere she went.
She was born Joanne Antoinette Dugan on Sept. 28, 1924, near Mediapolis, Iowa, the eighth of 12 children of Elbert “E.P.” and Nellie (Schulte) Dugan. She graduated from St. Joseph's High School in Rock Island, and worked for Farmall.
She married Albert “Frosty” DeVrieze on Sept. 1, 1947, and raised one daughter and four sons, serving for a time as the family's sole means of support through a job at Borden's Dairy in Rock Island while Frosty recovered from early, rudimentary hip replacement surgery. She retired from Borden's in 1975.
In the years after Frosty's death in 1990, Joanne did for others, volunteering at a hospital and a blood bank; delivering communion to shut-ins; singing in the St. Mary's (East Moline) Church choir; and loving and watching her grandkids grow and flourish, while taking immense pride in how much those grandchildren loved her macaroni and cheese.
She enjoyed playing pinochle and 500 with friends; walking the mall and the hills of East Moline; and watching Tiger Woods win, even if she couldn't tell the difference between a birdie and a bogey.
Joanne reveled in family and friends, and inspired all around her with her hard-learned capacity to choose joy over despair, faith over doubt, and love over anger. In keeping with family tradition, she also favored a horrendously cacophonous and irredeemably non-melodious “Happy Birthday” chorus over any version close to being sung on key.
In her later years, Joanne displayed a remarkably quick wit, and thus earned the unofficial Quad-Cities title of “funniest old woman on Facebook.” This, she improbably did while never having personally ventured onto the internet, or even mastered the simple use of a VCR.
Joanne is survived by daughter, Cynthia (Al) Lopez, and sons, Mark DeVrieze, Kent DeVrieze, and Craig (Sherri) DeVrieze; by nine grandchildren: Eric (Amy) Lopez, Regan Borman, Jeromy (Brooke) Lopez, Amy (Ashley) Rotman, Dillon (Molly) Behr, William (Mariah) DeVrieze, Derek DeVrieze, Marissa (Justin) Johnson and Joanna (Lindsay) Thompson Lopez; and by 16 great-grandchildren: Thomas, Matthew and Abigail Lopez; Sarah Jones and Mackenzie Richter; Addison and Ashton Lopez; Alyson and Ava Rotman; Kirra, Maleiah and Watson DeVrieze; Aedan DeVrieze; Austin and Ellie Johnson; and Lillian Just Behr. Plus a coming attraction.
She was preceded in death by her husband; stillborn son, Tommy; son, William Brian; her parents; sisters, Mary Rita Daxon, Helen Polka, Alice Johnson, Betty Ternoey, Bernadine DeWitt, Martha Kroeger, Pauline Peterson and Margaret Dugan; and brothers, Paul, John and Harold Dugan.
The family wishes to thank Joanne's caregivers in the memory unit at Park Vista for their kindness and hard work.
Donations in Joanne's memory may be directed toward the impoverished Ricketts family of Chicago, Illinois, for purposes of assembling a near-Major League-caliber bullpen, or to be dispersed per family wishes.
Online condolences may be left for the family at www.vanhoe.com.
