Doris Jacobs

Doris (Dickson) Jacobs, 95, a lifelong resident of Manchester, died on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at Crestfield Rehabilitation Center. She was born on September 10, 1922 in Manchester, eldest of two daughters of the late Alice (Faulkner) Dickson of Manchester, and Thomas Dickson (born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland). She liked to tell people that she was one of the first babies born in Manchester Memorial Hospital. Doris graduated salutatorian of her Manchester High School class in 1940. A constant reader and a scholar, her dream was to become a teacher. Instead, the day after she graduated from high school she began working at the Travelers Insurance Company as a secretary. She gave her weekly paycheck to her parents. It was her pride and joy that her contribution helped enable her sister's matriculation at UConn.My dear mother, Doris, married my father, Wendell K. Jacobs (1923-1988), of Barre, VT, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Manchester, CT in August, 1945. I (Alison Jacobs Holcombe), her only child, was born on July 19, 1952. As was the custom in those days, my mother had to leave Travelers when she became pregnant. When I turned 5, my mother went back to work as a secretary near her home in Manchester. After partial retirement, she worked 10 years as a tax preparer for H&R Block. During the last decades of her life, Doris spent a lot of time at the Manchester Senior Center, affectionately known as "her second home". She loved playing duplicate bridge, going on senior bus tours and traveling with her widower companion, Stanley Tetlow. She also volunteered at the Senior Center as an AARP tax preparer. She read the Hartford Courant every day up until the last week of her life, and voted by absentee ballot for "Mrs. Clinton".Doris is survived by her daughter, Alison Holcombe & her husband, Robert Holcombe, of Wakefield, RI; by her nephew, David Lounsbury, and his wife, Zita, of Natick, MA; also by their son, Brendon Lounsbury of Hartford, CT; by her niece, Meredith Despins and her husband, Gary, of Pasadena, MD; also by their daughters, Krystal Despins of Pasadena, MD, and by Robyn Despins of Natick MA. In addition to her parents she was predeceased by her sister Marion Lounsbury. My mother, Doris, loved life. She also loved a good Jack Daniels Manhattan, straight up! I am eternally grateful that I got to drink a last one with her just five days before her death. Funeral services and burial in East Cemetery, Manchester will be private. There are no calling hours. Memorial contributions may be made to the Manchester Senior Center, 549 Middle Turnpike East, Manchester, CT 06040.Holmes-Watkins Funeral Home, Manchester has care of the arrangements. To leave an online condolence please visit www.holmeswatkins.com