Dave McGlaughlin says he picked his wife, Jeanna, out of a catalog.
“We both worked at West Music at the same time,” Dave says. “Every year, the music education department published a catalog of all the bongos, maracas and stuff they sold to universities and schools, and they always had pictures of the staff.”
Dave worked at the West Music in Waterloo at the time, while Jeanna worked at the Coralville location. He says he thought Jeanna looked cute in her picture in the catalog.
“I knew she was the one,” Dave says.
The two met in 1989, and married Sept. 24, 1994. Dave had a son and a daughter from a previous marriage, and he and Jeanna would go on to have two boys.
“She was super sweet,” Dave says of Jeanna. “I’d be the one that could easily drop a curse word. She never would swear. She was always kind and charitable.”
A few of her favorite things
Jeanna had worked at West Music since she was a senior in high school. She later went to Kirkwood and received a degree in accounting. Her favorite music was a capella, like Pentatonix and Home Free.
One of her favorite TV shows was “Schitt’s Creek,” so one Christmas, Dave bought her a bunch of gifts tied to the show, including a personalized license plate that read, “EWDAV1D.”
“That plate has shown up in pictures online,” Dave says. “She came home a number of times saying people would be laughing and giggling and taking a picture.”
Jeanna also had a side business as a Color Street stylist and spent a good deal of time helping people with their fingernail fashion.
Choosing donation
On June 7, 2024, Jeanna was laying down at home in North Liberty when experienced a brain bleed.
“There was a weak spot in her brain, she probably passed out before she died,” Dave says. “She really went to sleep and didn’t wake up.”
Dave and Jeanna had spoken about donation before, and had registered as eye, organ and tissue donors on their licenses. Dave, who used to be a volunteer firefighter with the North Liberty Fire Department, had also worked part-time as a courier for Iowa Donor Network. He knew that if someone passes away at home, referral is not automatic as it is when someone passes away in a hospital.
Still, Dave says he had to look up the phone number online to call to get the donation process started: 1-800-831-4131. Ultimately, Jeanna became a cornea and tissue donor.
“It was so moving that her kindness continues on,” Dave says,” “and that she helped improve someone’s eyesight.”
Several weeks after her death, Dave received a keepsake ornament personalized with Jeanna’s name and a donation medallion from Iowa Lions Eye Bank. These tokens are sent to the next of kin of every cornea and eye donor after the outcome of their donation is known.
“The ornament hangs on the Christmas tree, and the donation medallion is on the mantle,” Dave says. “It’s an ongoing reminder that she was such a sweetheart, and that donation is paramount. It’s just the right thing to do.”
Choosing kindness
Dave says after Jeanna’s death he was up at about 2:00 in the morning writing her eulogy and looking at the condolences posted on Facebook.
“There truly was a theme of how kind she was,” Dave says. “And it wasn’t just 1, 2, or 3. It was hundreds saying how kind she was, how sweet and how helpful. She would do daily inspirational posts on Facebook. So early on, I decided to continue where she left off. Every day you’ll see an inspirational post on my Facebook page, too.”
Dave started putting purple potted plants outside his house and painted a bench purple because it was Jeanna’s favorite color.
“Kindness rocks started showing up by my bench and the flowers, and I knew that a grownup must have told the kids leaving the rocks that the mommy at the house had passed away,” Dave says. “It was so moving they did this. I thought, ‘I have to put these rocks somewhere central.’ So, I bought a box off eBay, had vinyl attached, and a friend gifted me a QR code that goes to a website.”
That website, https://app.turninghearts.com/dashboard/medallion-18649, hosts photos of Jeanna as well as a brief biography and a link to her obituary.
The kindness box acts like a little free library. Local people put little gifts inside, like handmade gifts and granola bars, that are free to anyone to take.
“It’s so amazing, so many people walk by,” Dave says. “It’s great to look out the window and see kids looking and excited.”