Dorothy passed away December 10, 2011 in Springfield, Mo. She was born June 23, 1924 in Arkansas City, Kansas, the youngest of four children, all girls. Her parents were James Henry Hays and Maud Ruth Kennedy. Her parents and sisters all predeceased her.
She was 13 when the family moved to Russell, Kansas where she went almost through high school. During her senior year, her family again moved to Wichita, Kansas; where she graduated with people she barely knew.
She went to work in Tulsa at a defense plant. There she married John Jacobsen, from whom she was divorced 20 years later. He was in the oil service business and they lived during those years all over the Rocky Mountains which she loved. She held a variety of jobs involving accounting, and became an experienced accountant. They wound up in Corpus Christi, Texas. There she joined Alcoholics Anonymous to conquer a mutual habit that had been straining their marriage. John did not stay with the program. When they moved to Lafayette, La, she divorced John and became a very active participant in AA activities, particularly sponsorship. There she married John Clark who died six years later. She then remarried Pete Des Jardins and after retirement did much traveling, pursuing hobbies of genealogy, collecting antique glass pitchers, and rock hunting for a lapidary hobby.
They moved to Springfield, Missouri to be near aging relatives and to be in a central location for their traveling. She had no children. She married Pete who had six children who were mostly grown. She was very fond of them, and saw them regularly from their scattered locations in the country. She was particularly fond of the nine grandchildren who were all born after she joined the family. She will be greatly missed by us all. She was raised a Baptist, and is now with her loving savior. She is survived by her husband, Peter Des Jardins of Springfield.