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As received from the O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home:
Jeanette Marguerite Arend, 101, passed peacefully on Saturday, August 6, 2022, taking with her an irreplaceable knowledge of French cuisine and the hearts of all those that met her. A proud mother and bright soul, she was best known for her candor, kindness, and infectious love of life, of which she lived many.
Born in 1920 in Longwy, France, Jeanette grew up simply in the Alsatian countryside, leaving school at the age of 15 to work as a butcher and sometimes seamstress in the local shops. With the German invasion in 1940 setting life on end and her fiance pressed into work programs in Germany, Jeanette waited for 2 years until his escape from Nazi authorities, after which they fled to Paris. They married in 1942, living in secret in a hotel near the Eiffel Tower. Surviving on her husband’s under ground shoe business, they traded with ladies of a certain reputation who kept the couple informed of German inspections. Later, after seeing Paris liberated, Jeanette would again narrowly escape German fire as forces retreated through her native Longwy.
Following the war years, Jeanette moved her family to Azay-le-Rifeau in Central France to work alongside her husband in the town barbershop and raise her children happily. Then in 1957, Jeanette followed family and friends to the States and made a home in Mount Clemens, teaching herself English through American soap operas and gaining an international reputation for her cuisine while running the local French Club. After her husband’s death in 2008, Jeanette found a new life at the Bluffs of Houghton, where she finally realized her dream of having her own apartment and living independently. She spent her twilight years between Houghton and Flint, never stopping in her creative pursuits or befriending any who dared to brave her accent.
She is survived by her daughter, Claudine; son Philippe; seven grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; and eight great-great-grandchildren.
A private ceremony will be held later this autumn in her beloved Azay-le-Rideau, France.
Those that wish to show thanks or remembrance are invited to make a donation in her honor to the Omega House, 2211 Maureen Lane, Houghton, MI 49931.
The O’Neill-Dennis Funeral Home in Hancock assisted with local arrangements.
