Jane Arlene Gavin

1939 - 2025

Jane Arlene Gavin

August 21, 1939 - November 1, 2025

Jane Arlene Gavin, 86, passed away peacefully on November 1, 2025, after an extended illness. Visitation will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025 from 10 a.m. to noon at Van Hoe Funeral Home in East Moline, Ill. Private internment will be at a future date at Rosedale Cemetery in Cambridge. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Friends of East Moline Public Library or to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Jane was born in J.C. Hammond City Hospital in Geneseo on August 21, 1939, to Vernon and Alice Walsh of Cambridge, Ill. She grew up on the family farm and enjoyed many activities at Cambridge High School where she graduated in 1957. She has stayed in touch with her classmates and has organized group reunions around Homecoming time for decades. After high school graduation, Jane attended the American Institute of Commerce in Davenport and earned an Advanced Secretarial Degree. She worked at Massachusetts Mutual following graduation and later at Hanford Insurance Agency in Geneseo as underwriter and accountant. She started working at John Deere Planter Works in Moline as a clerk typist in 1969 and she and her daughters moved to Moline in 1971. She was promoted to Marketing Forecast Analyst and used her farm background to be a valuable colleague over her 25-year career.

She retired from John Deere in 1994 and put her free time to good use by spending more time with her granddaughter Mercedes. She volunteered at the Trinity Hospital Rock Island gift shop for six years and when she wasn't at the gift shop, you could find her playing bridge at the Oakwood Country club where she was a member for over 30 years. She enjoyed spending time gardening, fishing, and watching nature in their backyard with her husband George. Jane loved playing any kind of card game and over the years she played bridge, euchre, five hundred, etc. wherever she could get a game going with her many friends or her family. She introduced the family to Hand and Foot Canasta five years ago, and especially enjoyed playing with her brother and sister-in-law, daughters, granddaughter, and son-in-law.

Travel was a particular passion of Jane's, and she completed her goal to visit all 50 states in the U.S.A. with a cruise to Alaska with her daughters in 2022. She also travelled to Canada, Jamaica, Bahamas, Belize, Aruba, Cozumel, Curacao, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Ireland.

Jane is survived by two daughters: Susan (Steve) Brown of Highland Park, Ill., and Kathy (Kent) Holmer of Channahon, Ill.; four grandchildren: Mercedes (Kevin) Deckinga, Thor (Jessalyn) Holmer, Tyler Brown and Ian Brown; three great grandchildren; Kaleb, Kooper, and Kole Holmer and her brother Richard's wife, Karen Walsh. She was preceded in death by her husband, George; her parents and her brother Richard Walsh.

Jane was very thankful for the care she received at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Dr. Sy and the team at the University of Iowa Quad Cities Cancer Clinic in Bettendorf.

Online condolences may be left for the family at vanhoe.com

Van Hoe Funeral Home

1500 Sixth St., East Moline, Ill.

309-755-1414