Bonita “Jean” Dunlap Duquesnay – On June 15, 2018, Jean Duquesnay, aged 92, passed peacefully in her home with a smile on her face after eating a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream. Jean was born in Orange, Texas, on December 22, 1925, but her family moved to Houston when she was three years old. She loved the city and always thought of herself as a Houstonian. She is preceded in death by her husband, Paul E. “Duke” DuQuesnay, Jr., her son, Paul Edward III, known as Eddie, her sisters, Polly Sargent and Jimmie Gadbois, and grandson Chip Bankston. She is survived by her brother, Robert Dunlap of Austin, daughter Susan Bankston and her husband Don of Richmond, Texas, and her son Mark Duquesnay and his wife Kathy of Houston. She is also survived by her grandchildren Paul Edward Duquesnay IV, Elizabeth Jean Smith, Rosie DuQuesnay, Bryan Bankston, Mark Bankston, Jill Duquesnay Hansen, and Paula Duquesnay Boutwell, nine great-grandchildren, and one great-grand grandchild.
Jean married Paul in April of 1943 in the middle of World War II, and the newlyweds travelled to California while he was serving in the Army Air Corp. After the war, they returned to Houston where both of their families lived. As with many women of her generation, Jean was a full time wife and stay-at-home mom while her children were young. After her children entered high school, Jean started college to become a schoolteacher. She taught children with disabilities. She was very good at it.
Jean took up painting in her later years, and she was very good at that, too. Whether in a lush landscape of the Texas Hill Country or a moody abstract of Galveston Bay, Jean had an eye for the natural beauty of our state. Her many works hang in the homes of her children and grandchildren, where they will always be a source of comfort.
Jean’s first love was travel. She traveled extensively around the country and made exciting trips to Europe, the Holy Land, Mexico, and a cruise to Alaska. She proudly lived independently until her recent hospital visit. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, and reading. She was active in her neighborhood association and her church.
At her request, there were graveside services for the immediate family only. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Star of Hope Mission in Houston or any organization helping to reunite children with their refugee parents at the border. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?” James 2:14

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