Remembering Jody

Eulogy from her Funeral

July 2006

Hi. I’m Terese Rowekamp, married to Dave’s oldest brother Mike. I was the first of the Rowekamp daughters-in-law, and I was pleased to welcome Jody into the fold, although when Dave first brought her home to meet us, we wondered how Dave had ended up with someone as great as Jody. We don’t know how it happened, but we’re glad it did.

I’ve been asked by the family to share some of our thoughts about Jody.

When we think of Jody we will remember her first and foremost as a devoted mother. Her world revolved around her children. She attended every ball game, theater event, cheer meet, dance recital, school concert, and scouting event for Taylor and Ryan. Jody planned wonderful birthday parties for the kids over the years which included face painting, clowns, magicians, water slides, ponies, a petting zoo, bowling, Valley Fair, Busch Gardens, swimming parties, Puerto Rico, Caribbean cruises, and the list goes on. She always placed the needs and concerns of the kids well ahead of her own. Jody was also a loving wife to Dave. She planned numerous vacations, surprise parties, dinners, bed and breakfast getaways and other special events for Dave and herself. If you tried to give Jody a hug, she would just stand there. If you told Jody you loved her, she would say “OK”. She could put up a facade of being a tough straight-to-the-point lady, but behind the scenes was a thoughtful, tender and loving person.

She had a unique sense of humor, and the more you knew Jody, the more you enjoyed her quick wit. She told it like it was, but she did it in a humorous and funny sarcastic way. During an appointment with one of the many doctors she met over the last four years, the doctor asked Jody all of the usual questions such as; do you have any family history of cancer, do you drink, do you smoke, do you take drugs? She answered “no” to all the questions but quickly followed up by saying that she planned to start all of those bad habits right away. She felt she had been ripped off for being a good law abiding citizen. Jody was Jody, and you couldn’t help but love her. Jody never wanted to know her prognosis; it simply didn’t matter to her.

Jody’s interest in TV shows was a bit different. She enjoyed kicking back and watching reality shows such as Fear Factor, Cops, Dancing with the Stars, and so on. What she enjoyed most was making fun of the people on these shows, again in a sarcastic but lighthearted way.

Jody was a proud person and didn’t ask for help from others. She would much rather be on the giving end versus someone making a fuss over her. If Jody was coordinating a function you never had to worry about the details, they were taken care of. She always wanted to be in control, yet not be controlling. She took charge of situations where charge was needed. A great example of this is how she handled the urgent situation when her mother had an aneurysm in Naples Florida. Janene needed to be flown by helicopter from Naples to Miami. Without hesitation Jody made it clear to her family and the medical staff that she would be accompanying her mother on this flight. After a failed attempt by the medical personnel to stop Jody, she was quickly en route to Miami alongside her mother, flying in the middle of the night over the Everglades, despite her own fragile condition. When Jody’s sister Julee was about to marry Brad, shortly before the ceremony, Jody insisted that she be able to interview Brad to ensure he met her standards before becoming Julee’s husband.

Jody loved the two years she and her family spent in Chesapeake living on the east coast alongside the Atlantic Ocean, enjoying the warm weather. The outer banks of North Carolina were her happy place.

You may not know that Jody was a matchmaker at heart. For years she talked about matching various nieces with various nephews (from opposite sides of the family). We’ll have to wait and see how those work out. Her most successful matchmaking to date was introducing Kevin Rowekamp to his wife Julie.

Jody had a mischievous side, too. When she and Dave babysat a young Megan and Kate, she took them to the grocery store and told them they could have any treat they wanted. She encouraged candy and chocolate and other things that would rot your teeth out, and was terribly disappointed to find them at the cash register with rice cakes and grapes. Years later she decided Kate was close enough to 10 to get her ears pierced, without getting permission from Kate’s mom (me).

Jody dreamed of starting her own business. A personal favorite was the upscale Master Brody Kennels.

Jody loved going out to dinner (especially at Long John Silvers), an occasional meal at Champs, watching reality shows, reading books to the kids, coordinating events and vacations, spending time in Jamesport, Missouri with her family, trying to keep her cousins Greg and David in line. Jody loved to live, and along the way she met many lifelong friends and touched them all.

Jody, we love you, and we will miss you.