Jo Ann Charlton

Jo Ann (Jody) Drohan Charlton, 83, of Traverse City, Michigan and Hudson, Ohio, passed away Sunday, September 17, 2023 in her home, on the shores of Lake Michigan, surrounded by her family. Jody was born April 2,1940 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. Edward Pierce Drohan and Margaret Rebecca Ahrens. A graduate of Hughes High School, she earned a B.A. in Education at The University of Cincinnati (UC). She was a member of the Tri Delta sorority and a Bearcat majorette for UC’s football team and Oscar “The Big O” Robertson’s basketball team. And Jody and her fellow majorettes even got to high-step and twirl their batons at Chicago's Soldier Field for a Packers-Bears game. In 1962, while attending UC, she married the love of her life, David Alan Charlton. During a short stay in Cincinnati, Jody worked to instill a passion for sports at Finneytown High School where she was employed as a physical education teacher and field hockey coach. As a young couple, Jody and David relocated twice - Indianapolis, Indiana and Birmingham, Michigan, before laying roots in Hudson, Ohio. In Hudson, Jody pursued her passion for tennis and platform tennis while discovering new interests including pickleball, biking and swimming. She belonged to Hudson Women’s Club and was a founding member of Windfall Profits Investment Club. Her quilting caught the eye of the community and she was invited to quilt a square for the Hudson Bicentennial Memorial Quilt. She worked part time as an editor and columnist for the Hudson-Hub Times, John Logan Realty and was a five-year EMT volunteer for Hudson EMS. In 2003, Jody and David purchased a waterfront lot on Grand Traverse Bay in northern Michigan and built their dream home, which Jody designed. A talented painter, her work dons the walls of their Michigan home and myriad others throughout the Midwest. She was a member of Old Mission Women’s Club, Old Mission Historical Society and an early supporter of the Peter Dougherty Society. Jody and David were fortunate to travel to Bermuda, Italy, Hawaii, Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and for the last thirty years, Boca Grande, Florida served as their winter home base. Jody’s love of the great outdoors took her to Jackson, Wyoming to learn to fly fish, West Virginia and the New River to whitewater raft and Michigan’s Boardman River to kayak. She always looked forward to biking around Mackinac Island, her final ride being with David and their grandson Cooper. She was a fierce Euchre player and enjoyed the longest running Gin Rummy winning streak in the family. From lacrosse, soccer and basketball, to sailing, hockey and swimming, Jody loved watching and cheering on her grandchildren as they climbed the competitive ranks of their respective sports. Jody and David were in the stadium in 2011 when the Hudson High School Boys won Ohio's Lacrosse State Championship. In turn, Jody’s children and grandchildren got to watch their parents and grandparents carry on a life-long love affair, marriage and partnership between two best friends. Jody overcame many challenges with grace and wit. She survived breast cancer - opting for a mastectomy - and lived cancer-free for twenty-one years. In a span of two months in 2018, she survived an ischemic stroke and open heart surgery. Despite living with expressive aphasia, Jody held a positive attitude and laughter flowed easily. Jody was preceded in death by her parents and grandson, Cooper Knight Charlton. She is survived by her loving husband of 61 years, David; her son, David Knight, and his wife, Susan (Ecker); her daughter, Ann Drohan, and her husband, Christopher William Dewart Adams; her four grandchildren, Michael and Maxwell (Max) Charlton, and Alexandra (Alex) and Dodge Adams; Mackenzie Henry, Cooper's fiancée; her sister, Diane Todd, and her brother, Dr. Edward Pierce Drohan, and his wife, Mary Jo. A memorial service will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 19, 2023 at First Congregational Church of Hudson, 47 Aurora St., Hudson, Ohio 44236. Refreshments will follow the memorial service. To honor Jody’s memory, contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society (donate.cancer.org) or Hospice of Northern Michigan (https://www.hom.org/donate/).

Jo Ann Charlton

April 2, 1940 - September 17, 2023