Shelly Hudson & Dianne Acton

March 2025 Issue

by Edwina Hoyle
Photos provided by Shelly Hudson

Dianne Acton lived a life of adventure and loved to experience new places and try new things. Her daughter, Shelly Hudson, described her as a groundbreaker for women. “She was the only one in her family who went to college. Once she worked on a construction site and wore a pink hard hat,” Shelly said. Her Mom was a strong, independent, and successful woman with an entrepreneurial spirit, who owned a contract support business in Washington D.C.

Shelly’s Mom lived life to the fullest, enjoying every exciting adventure she could, like skydiving, hang gliding, parasailing, soaring in a hot air balloon and a glider plane. Dianne especially loved to travel.

Retiring in 2011, Dianne planned a year-long trip to Paris, Spain, and England with her husband, Wilbur (Will) Mozingo. “She was always enamored by Paris,” Shelly said. “She would label things like the refrigerator with sticky notes in French to prepare and kept a journal of their entire trip. It was Mom’s wish to take her ashes to Paris to be her final resting place.”

“The first signs of dementia appeared when Mom was only 63 years old,” Shelly shared. At age 78 Dianne passed away in 2023 on Christmas night after her long battle with Alzheimer’s. A celebration of her life took place on Easter Sunday. “We had a big party as she would have wanted.”

Shelly decided to plan a trip to Paris to fulfill her mother’s wish. She included her sister, Holly Faett, two cousins, Gretchen Klein and Heidi Welsh, along with Tina Alexander Johnson and her daughter, Tiffany. “I call Tina my adopted sister, a sister from another mother. Mother adopted her, too. We are all very close and grew up together.”

“Paris was Mom’s favorite place, and my sister had never been. So, I planned the trip to honor Mom and what she loved to do,” Shelly said. “Tina and I would get together for brunch planning sessions. The others said they would just go with whatever we decided.” Shelly took her mother’s old journal on the trip to be able to follow in her footsteps to see and experience the sites and culture of Paris just as her mom did.

The six travelers had a perfect Airbnb located on the Seine. “The first thing we did was walk down the Seine going to dinner. We crossed a bridge, and the Eiffel Tower was in sight just glittering,” Shelly said. “We took a dinner cruise on the Seine River and saw the city at night. When Mom and Will were there, every time they went under a bridge they kissed. There are lots and lots of bridges. We didn’t kiss, but we did lots of toasts,” Shelly said.

They visited the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), a cathedral overlooking the city. “Mom was Catholic, so we lit candles for her,” Shelly said. Over the next few days, Shelly and her “sisters” enjoyed a wine and food tour, went to the Moulin Rouge cabaret, and visited the Palace of Versailles – just as Dianne had done.

“The last day we were all together, we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and toasted Mom. As we walked along the bank of the Seine, we saw a mini Statue of Liberty on a little island with two weeping willows, and we could see the Eiffel Tower in the background,” Shelly said. “That night we walked back to the little island and scattered her ashes. It was the perfect spot because the Statue of Liberty represents freedom and independence, and Mom loved the Eiffel Tower. Then we went to an authentic French restaurant recommended by the owner of the Airbnb. It was our last dinner together, and Mom just loved restaurants like that one,” Shelly added.

Most of the group left for home the next day. Only Dianne’s daughters— Shelly and Holly—stayed in Paris. Holly told Shelly that she wanted to go shopping. “I was sitting on the balcony and looked in Mom’s journal. We located La Samaritaine department store near the Airbnb. We shopped exactly where Mom had shopped. Then we found a little café across the street just like the ones she loved.”

The final adventure the two sisters completed was to go up in the hot air balloon (pictured far left) that carried the Olympic Cauldron in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. “It was the perfect tribute to Mom. Everything fell into place, and it was a fitting end of our trip,” Shelly said. “Mom was absolutely guiding us, and it brought us closure. It was amazing bonding time.”

Up Close:
• Shelly was a caregiver for her mother when Will was no longer able to do so. She said, “First I focused on her care, then I focused on her celebration of life, then I focused on the trip. We miss her, and we did many, many toasts to her.”

• When Dianne and Will were in Paris, Will’s assignment was to walk to the market each morning for wine, cheese, and a newspaper. Their marriage was a real love story.

• Dianne and Will moved to Hilton Head, and she immersed herself in the community going to picnics at polo matches, the Jazz Corner, and the Arts Center until dementia limited her experiences. Shelly said she was a “professional networker” and enjoyed the “Out to Lunch Bunch” from Hilton Head Plantation and attending Memory Matters.