LYON TWP. – Katherine Des Rochers, the long-time township Planning Department coordinator, was mourned and remembered as a devoted mother and employee this week.
Des Rochers died Jan. 12 after suffering a heart attack while driving to her Salem Township home following a Planning Commission meeting.
She was 43.
“We are just devastated,” township Treasurer Patty Carcone said through tears. “She loved the township, us and the residents and she was just a good person.”
Des Rochers had just marked her 20th anniversary with the township in December. Carcone recalled hiring her when Des Rochers was just 23 and aiming for a job that could have been out of reach for most applicants her age.
However, Carcone said she and the other staff “just fell in love with her.”
“She was so grateful and look at what she turned out to be,” Carcone said. “She was very funny, very snappy, so smart and always took time with people.”
Des Rochers was extremely organized in her work and capable of locating anything, vital assets working for one of the fastest growing communities in the state, colleagues said.
Over the course of the past 20 years, Des Rochers assisted applicants with many large projects in the township, including industrial developments along Grand River and numerous housing and commercial developments.
She was also willing to help wherever else she was needed in the township offices.
Deputy Clerk April Talaga recalled relying on Des Rochers to teach her computer skills when she first started working at the township 17 years ago.
Des Rochers’ offers of assistance throughout the offices continued through the years, with her helping with elections and anyone needing a hand.
But beyond her job skills, she was valued for her loving, upbeat personality and her friendship, township staff said. She was a former Yooper with a passion for the Green Bay Packers, squirrels, word games and cake.
Both Carcone and Talaga recalled Des Rocher’s distinctive, “booming” voice that would always lead the office in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to whichever employee was being honored.
“She was always nice, even when people weren’t nice to her,” Talaga said. “She was such a caring person, she was a Yooper and that would come out.”
What was most apparent, however, was Des Rochers’ adoration for her 13-year-old son, Matthew.
“She had passions for squirrels and the Packers, but her son was #1,” Talaga said. “It was always ‘Matthew this, Matthew that’… She always drove Matthew to school and asked if she could take lunch late and pick him up. Her son always came first.”
Indeed, according to her obituary, Des Rochers’ “dedication to her work was paralleled only by her commitment to her family, especially her beloved son, Matthew.”In addition to Matthew, Des Rochers’ is survived by her parents, Wayne and Vanessa Nelson and sister, Julie Nelson, and her friend and former husband, Ernest Des Rochers.
Private services have been held.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: Colleagues ‘devastated’ after Lyon Township planning official dies suddenly at 43
Reporting by Susan Bromley, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
