Jeanny A. Foster

On July 3, 2022, Jeanny passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her family.

Jeanny was born on April 5, 1948 in Mertzig, Luxembourg to Joseph and Hilda Pletschette. As Jeanny always liked to remind people, Luxembourg is a small, independent country with its own language and customs (and not a part of Germany!) After attending Ecole Privee Fieldgen in Luxembourg City, where she excelled academically, Jeanny was accepted to the University of Heidelberg to study foreign languages. To satisfy her taste for adventure, Jeanny planned to become an interpreter for the United Nations and travel the world. But she was propelled into another kind of adventure when she met her loving husband Gary at a discotheque in Echternach, Luxembourg, when he was stationed just over the border in Germany during his service in the Air Force. They married on June 21, 1969 in Aurora, Illinois.

From there, Jeanny and Gary worked in Saudi Arabia and travelled all over Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia for the next 9 years. Jeanny recalled her most memorable trip was travelling up the Himalayas in Pakistan with a Sherpa guide, taking in the majesty of the mountains and eating fresh-caught trout from a mountain stream. In 1978, Jeanny and Gary moved to Torrance, California, where their daughter Anne-Marie was born. To fulfill their dream of owning their own business, Jeanny and Gary relocated to Rockford, Illinois in 1980. Their son Nick was born in 1981.

For the next 30-plus years, Jeanny was the bookkeeper for CherryVale Tire & Auto. Compelled to complete her college degree, she enrolled in Rockford College and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990. With a talent for numbers as well as languages, Jeanny worked as an accountant and obtained her Certified Public Accountant designation. Jeanny was a CPA for RSM McGladrey for many years and enjoyed her colleagues and work outings just as much as the work itself.

Jeanny loved long walks in nature, reading or listening to a good book, time with friends, sitting on a terrace or in her hot tub with a glass of Champagne and her journal, good food and conversations of all kinds. Over her time in Rockford Jeanny built a wonderful network of dear friends that she loved and cherished, especially those in her French Club and book club. Service was also important to Jeanny and she was an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Rockford for many years.

Jeanny’s Catholic faith nourished her curiosity and grounded her in something eternal. She saw faith as something to be worked at and cultivated, which she did through regular meetings with her prayer groups and daily readings of religious and philosophical texts. Jeanny was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church since moving to Rockford in 1980 and found great solace and support in the Church, especially during the last few years while dealing with her cancer diagnosis.

Jeanny is survived by Gary, her devoted husband of 53 years, her daughter Anne-Marie (Stephen), son Nick (Ellen), special nephew Tom (Julie), sisters Anny, Gaby, Josee, Eugenie, Mary and Agny, her brothers Rene, Charles and Paul and many nieces and nephews. Jeanny is predeceased by her parents Joseph and Hilda, her sister Margot and her nephew Bob.

A funeral Mass will be held Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, 4401 Highcrest Rd. Rockford, IL 61107. Memorial visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. until time of Mass. Final resting place will be in Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Winnebago, IL.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Kiwanis Club of Rockford

Arrangements entrusted to Fitzgerald Funeral Home & Crematory, 1860 S Mulford Rd. Rockford, IL 61108. Share online memories and condolences at www.fitzgeraldfh.com