Fay Marie DesJardin-Gilbert

Fay Marie DesJardin Gilbert, 86, peacefully passed away on Saturday evening, March 30 from complications of dementia. She was born during a snowstorm on March 12, 1938 at Hubbard Memorial Hospital in Bad Axe, Michigan to the late Laura Isabelle (Baslock) and Vincent Matthew DesJardin. Every year there is a snowstorm in March around her birthday, including this year(2024). She was the oldest of the four DesJardin sisters- Linda Mayworm Edwards (deceased), Kay Rogers Deneen, and Joyce Thompson (deceased). Fay’s remaining sister, Kay, was by her side to comfort her in her final days. Fay was a 1957 graduate of Bad Axe high School. She worked at the Bad Axe theater in high school as a ticket taker. She also assisted her mother at the Bell Telephone office. Her first horse was Queenie, followed by a colt she raised called Nipper. She had a German Shepherd named Rex. Fay would continue through life never being without pets, never without a dog and cat. She enjoyed participating in the Huron County Fair with her horses. She eloped to West Branch in September 15, 1965, and married Leonard (Ducky) Wahl Gilbert who was 22 years her senior. He preceded her in death February 1, 1991 one day after his 75th birthday. They embarked on an adventure of living in a 100 year old log cabin on a 70 acre farm in Verona Township in Huron County. Together they amassed a menagerie of animals. This worked out well, because Fay never met an animal she didn’t like. Fay could often be seen on the farm feeding the chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks, and turkeys. You could often find her bottle feeding a baby goat, lamb, kitten, or racoon. If you couldn’t find her, she was most likely in the barn talking to a pony, horse, mule, or donkey and maybe smoking a cigarette. If you still couldn’t find her, she might be walking in the woods looking for a lost calf or sheep, or in the chicken coop collecting eggs. Eggs- it took one dozen farm fresh eggs to make her signature angel food cake. The secret may have been a duck egg or two. Everyone loved it; she often baked it for family birthdays and holidays. On the fourth of July, she topped the fluffy white cake with fresh strawberries, homemade whipped cream, and Ducky’s homemade vanilla ice cream. Commemorative flower arrangements- for decades, Fay prepared real (never artificial) flower arrangements for all of the DesJardin side of the family and the Gilbert side. This included parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Colfax cemetery has surely been void of flowers these past years. And what other reason would you have for carrying around an old rusty metal coffee can in the back of your jeep, but to stop and water the flowers? Fay loved photography. She never had a special or expensive camera. She took pictures of all her animals, her flowers and house plants, sunsets, snow accumulation, everyday items she liked, sights she saw while driving, horizons, and rainbows. She wasn’t a great photographer and would have benefited greatly from the ease of the digital camera age, but we love her photos all the same. She was still dropping off film rolls in 2019, which cost $36 to develop. Surviving is her daughter Anna Laura Gilbert of Mt. Pleasant. Fay was step mother to Burton Gilbert (Mary) of Bad Axe, Durell Gilbert (Dianna) (both deceased) Filion/Maryland, Linda Gilbert Jimkoski (Ken) (both deceased) of Kinde, and Pamela Gilbert Hanson (Dennis) of Norfolk, VA. Fay’s grandchildren are Jalen Leonard Gilbert-Hogan, Laurie Jimkoski Soper (deceased), Ken Jimkoski Jr., Kevin Jimkoski, Lynette Gilbert Montague, Brian Gilbert, Christopher Gilbert, Rick Gilbert, Chad Gilbert, Courtney Gilbert Brown, Quinne Hanson Woodward, and Autumn Hanson. She also had some special nieces. Fay lived and worked in the Thumb area her whole life. She held down a few factory jobs at Anrod Screen and Cylinder in Cass City, Hamill Seat Belt Factory in Ubly, and Thumb Plastics in Bad Axe (retired from). She also worked at Norman’s store in Bad Axe. Fay had a green thumb and enjoyed gardening, house plants, and perennials around her yard. She enjoyed canning, baking, reading, sewing, watching Western movies, strolling in the woods, and an occasional beer. She never shied away from hard work carrying bales of hay, pails of water, or chopping wood. Later in life, after she slowed down, she enjoyed jig-saw puzzles and bird watching/feeding. She took a picture of every jigsaw puzzle that she completed and made an album. Fay was fortunate enough to travel to many places including Disney in Florida, Dollywood, Smoky Mountains, Steamboat Colorado, Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and Italy. Fay was a member of the Colfax Methodist Church in Bad Axe. When the small country church closed, she became a member of the First United Methodist Church in the city of Bad Axe. Much gratitude to the staff of Prestige Memory Care Facility in Mt. Pleasant for the love, special attentiveness, safe keeping, and providing a comfortable home away from home with delicious meals over the past two years. Thank you to nursing staff, especially Brooke and clergy Kevin, of Heartland Hospice. Thank you to Mary Gilbert for weekly check in phone calls. Thank you to Kim Briand, RoseZan LaFreniere, and Jill Schelke Terrill for a constant supply of beautiful cards and correspondence over the past few years. Thank you to PACE of Mt. Pleasant. Fay will be interred next to her husband of 25 years, Leonard “Ducky” Gilbert in Colfax Cemetery. A funeral service will be held on Friday,April, 5, 2024 at 11 am at the Bad Axe First United Methodist Church at 216 E. Woodworth, Bad Axe. Visitation will be on will be Thursday,April 4, 2024 from 1 – 8 pm at the Kaufman Funeral Home, 84 Westland Dr., Bad Axe or Friday at the church from 10 am until the service time at 11 am.. A Celebration of Life will follow In addition to flowers, monetary donations for funeral expenses would be greatly appreciated. Condolences may be shared at www.kaufmanfuneralhome.com.

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Fay Marie DesJardin-Gilbert

March 12, 1938 - March 30, 2024

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Fay Marie DesJardin-Gilbert

March 12, 1938 - March 30, 2024

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