Kelly Lynn Dwenger-McHugh

Kelly was born on September 11, 1970. God gave her to Tom and Brenda Dwenger through adoption on October 20, 1970 when Brenda was able to pick her up out of the cradle and received her dream of having a child. She was baptized on November 8, 1970 into the Lutheran faith. She returned to God’s mercy on April 8, 2023.

Kelly was a beautiful outgoing creative girl and made friends easily. She talked early with a full vocabulary. Moving with family to Europe at the age of 2, Kelly learned the local Luxembourg dialect within 4 months after entering the local pre-school. The locals said she spoke it perfectly without an accent! It was a joy to see kids from different backgrounds converse in the local dialect. A favorite story occurred at Sunday School when she was 3 when the kids were asked how people moved about in the time of Jesus. Her answer was simple. “They went to the airport.” Also, at age 3, Kelly became the big sister to her brother Kevin.

Upon returning to the US, she quickly developed new friendships, was a cheerleader for youth football and graduated from Lake Local Schools in Uniontown, Ohio. She was not interested in college, and began working in the hospitality world, hosting and waitressing and became an accomplished bartender.

She moved to Florida in the mid-1990s to live. Kelly loved music cruises and rock concerts featuring 1980s and 1990s music and going to the beach. Her friends were always very important to her.

When Trey and Lauren were young, she took them camping and tried to get them to experience different things. Using her creative side, she enjoyed arts and crafts, especially the art of candle making for sale or for friends under her Smelly Kelly business name. She enjoyed her beloved cats, Thai and Kai.

She made grilled cheese sandwiches and dipped her chips in Duke’s mayonnaise, made a wonderful cheesy potato casserole, grilled meats and seafood, and made cinnamon sugar toast with a maple crème dipping sauce.

Kelly lived her life on her terms and had her own narrative and wanted to be the only one who told the story and let others know only what she wanted each of them to know and when.

She had 3 children, Tad Moskwa (Alyssa), Trey McHugh (Kelly), and Lauren McHugh (Tim), and 2 grandchildren, Damian and Ivyanna. They survive along with her brother, Kevin (Jennie) Dwenger and nephew Jacob, her dad, Tom, stepmother Jan, John McHugh, the father of Trey and Lauren, and 4 aunts and 2 uncles, Ruth Langsdon, Karen Koehring, Jerry and Margene Dwenger and Paul and Pat Dwenger, and many Dwenger, Langsdon and Koehring cousins. Her mother, Brenda, passed away in 2003. Also preceding her were her uncles, Ron Langsdon and Steve Koehring and grandparents, Ferd and Velma (Woeste) Dwenger, Ruth (Duncan) and step grandfather Wilbur Lee, and Grandfather Virgil Langsdon.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be given to the church of your choice or to your local humane society. One favorite recommendation is the Future Visioning Project at St. Jacobs Lutheran Church, 1460 State Street, North Canton, Ohio 44721.

A memorial service conducted by Pastor Angel Jackson will be held at St. Jacob’s Lutheran Church on Sunday, May 21, at 2:00 pm. The family will receive friends from 1:00 pm until the time of the service. A luncheon will be provided at the church immediately after the service. Interment will be private at the convenience of the family.

Those participating in worship from home can go to Facebook at St. Jacobs Lutheran Church North Canton, Ohio where it will be posted for viewing at any time. On Monday, May 22, the video of the service will be posted to the website: www.stjacobselca.org and to YouTube.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.craigflaglerpalms.com for the McHugh/Dwenger families.