The Lyon Township community was dealt a crushing blow on January 12, when it very suddenly lost a valued member of its staff – planning coordinator Katherine Des Rochers. She passed away while on the way home from a planning commission meeting she had just attended.

Katherine was known to many in the area, having served in the township for over 20 years.

Township Treasurer Patricia Carcone remembers the day Katherine was hired.

“She was the last interview of the day,” Carcone remembers fondly. “(Former clerk) Pam Johnson and I were struck by how youthful she was, and we wondered if she would be the right fit. She had no experience but she was really good with computers, and we figured she could grow with us. And she did.”

Over the years Katherine proved herself invaluable, often helping others with whatever needed to be done.

“She was amazing,” Carcone said. “She did so much around here, whether it was keeping our website updated, making sure files were in order, reorganizing our minutes for our meetings – she did it. And she never complained.”

Lyon Township Deputy Clerk April Talaga shared a special relationship with Katherine as well, calling herself Katherine’s “work mom”. She said she and Katherine had the type of relationship that included much “razzing” of each other, often to the point where it was questioned if the two really liked each other or not.

“She was quick with a comeback,” Talaga said with humor in her voice. “We would tease each other back and forth but it was all in fun.”

Talaga pointed to the fact that they rooted for different football teams. Katherine, a native of Menominee in the Upper Peninsula, was a die-hard Green Bay Packer fan. Talaga is a season ticket holder for the Detroit Lions. So you can imagine the teasing that happened when the two teams played each other.

Katherine had many things she loved. At the top of the list was her son Matthew, 13. Carcone lovingly called him the “office baby”.

“She always said she appreciated working for us because we were accommodating when she had to leave to take Matthew to practice – most recently as a player on the Panther football team,” she said.

Talaga said Katherine went out of her way to bring joy to the workplace, whether it was with her ever-present candy basket she kept on her desk, or creating artwork based on her love of squirrels and Talaga’s baking.

“She would tease me and say that I was her personal baker,” Talaga said. “I would usually bake for everybody when their birthday came around. She especially liked my cherry almond cake. So she had this picture of a fat squirrel at her desk and she wrote a little caption on it that said ‘Yay! April made cake!’ I think I’m going to have to keep that posted at my desk from now on.”

Katherine loved people, and people loved her. According to both Carcone and Talaga, she was the first to start the birthday song, seeing as she had a “loud, booming voice and laugh”. She loved the color purple, and was very close to her parents, Vanessa and Wayne, who reside in Ohio. She was also close to her sister, Julie, who still lives in Menominee. And she maintained a good relationship with her ex-husband, Ernie, who is Matthew’s father.

Her love for community was also obvious.

“She loved the township, she really did,” Carcone said.

Smart, witty, funny, detail-oriented. Katherine Des Rochers made an impression on so many people in her short lifetime, and she will be missed greatly. Talaga prefers to think that she’s in Heaven with her recently deceased and much beloved cat, Charlie.

Carcone will remember Katherine for how thoughtful she was to everyone, especially those she worked with.

“Everyday, at the end of the day, she would come and say goodbye to us all,” Carcone said. “Everyday. I just can’t believe that she’s gone.”