Jacqueline Dorn Yakovleff

Jacqueline Dorn Yakovleff CHARLESTOWN — Jacqueline Dorn Yakovleff was born in Wichita, Kansas, Jan. 1, 1927, and passed away April 21, 2022. Jacqueline Dorn was born and lived in Kansas until graduating high school and then was accepted at Northwestern University and graduated with a BA in speech. She then met and married Boris Yakovleff, (deceased) and worked in television. The couple then worked for a stretch in Chicago, before moving to New York City to start a family. Boris and Jacqueline both wanted to give their family a chance to live and understand nature and headed to Vermont. There was an old farmhouse with a large, fairly decrepit, barn and approximately 100 acres of land that they bought somewhere in the year of 1953-54. That began the time the family grew and experienced much happiness and struggle to find out how to manage a place in Vermont, and to pay for it, while husband had to work in New York. During the ensuing couple of years, the pair renovated the farmhouse while maintaining a place in NYC to complete the project. After it was finished, the family moved to NYC. There was a stint where the family moved to the Pelhams renting a place on the bay and enjoying a large backyard. Jacqueline took care of the children and for a few years tried to manage to live in Vermont, while Boris went to work in New York, staying with his mother in NYC. Jackie, as she enjoyed being called, stayed with the children in Vermont and took care of the two youngest while the oldest went to the Dover Elementary School. These were happy times, and she enjoyed the house with a telephone party line and so much snow. After the decision was made that living in Vermont year-round was untenable, the family moved back to NYC, uptown Manhattan. For that period. Jackie did not work, and stayed as a house mother. Then the family moved to Long Island and as the children were older, Jackie began her working time. She was hired in Queens to teach English. She worked there for about a year and while that was enjoyable for her, the travel became too much. So, she once again became a homemaker. During the summer, we would pack up the car and head to Vermont to spend a glorious time raising farm animals, and growing a garden complete with corn and tomatoes. We had a current bush out back and Jackie would make the most marvelous ruby red, tart, currant jelly. In 1971, the family moved to Vermont and Jackie began to work at a college as an employment counselor. She had a deal with the kitchen to take their food scraps and haul it home in her convertible Volkswagen, for our pigs. She developed friends almost anywhere she spent time. And to this day, there are many people who were very close to her, although many have since passed away. In 1976, after her husband passed away, she wanted to do something totally different and applied to the Peace Corps and was sent to the Pacific island of Tonga, where she taught English as a second language, and joined for a second tour of two more years and after that, she then became the executive director of the Red Cross and remained in Tonga for a total of six years. She was very excited be part of this and would send home letters about her adventures. From this tiny island, she was able to find a buyer and sold the land in Vermont. This was a wise move as there was little ability on the part of the family or her to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the farm. And actually, in the interim between 1971 and 1976, she sold a couple of three- or five-acre plots. She returned from the island and went to Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, where her mother and sister lived, her sister having a son living with them, as well. After mother and sister passed away, she decided not to live there anymore and moved to Oregon, first in Astoria and then in Pendleton, where she enjoyed her retirement and lived close to her daughter. There she enjoyed friends and family. She had some adventures there and explored the history of the Oregon Trail. After that she moved to Charlestown, New Hampshire, still enjoying her retirement and family. She lived in several places in Charlestown, and began to have trouble ambulating, and finally was moved to a first-floor subsidized apartment. She was always a presence for the family and always supported her offspring, and her sister’s son, with kind words, and counsel. The real testament for her ability to make friends came after her stroke on April 5, 2022. She was in the neuro ICU and then moved to the neuro specialty room where she spoke with the nurses, in a halting and sometimes unintelligible speech, which frustrated her no end. But the nurses and doctors told me that she was their favorite patient. And actually, one of the nurses, when it was decided that hospice was necessary, asked if Jackie went home, she wanted to be included in the hospice care. This epitomized Jackie’s ability to make friends. She will be sorely missed. She was predeceased by her husband, Boris; and her mother, Delores Dorn; and her sister, Glennis Wilson. Living, she has a nephew, Bruce Wilson; as well as the three offspring, Misha (born Michael), Matthew and Martha. She is cremated and there is a plan for ceremony possibly in a few months to allow for invitations to be sent. In lieu of flowers please be patient while we put together a place where she will be memorialized. The Cremation Society of New Hampshire has been entrusted with arrangements. To view an online tribute, leave a message of condolence, or for more information, please visit www.csnh.com