Irene de la Bretonne Hays, 73, of Richland, Washington passed away on May 8th, 2017.  Irene was born in Longview, Washington on July 7th, 1943 to Ernie and Inez de la Bretonne.  She grew up in Richland, graduating from Columbia High School in 1961.  She earned her B.A. in 1967 and taught high school for one year in Idaho.  In 1968, at age 25, she traveled with her husband and two children to Oahu, Hawaii where she dreamed of studying Japanese literary translation at the East-West Center.  She taught at public schools in Kaneohe, Hawaii for six years before returning to Richland, where she was a popular English teacher at Columbia (Richland) High School for six years.  After earning her M.A. in 1980, Irene worked for Battelle, PNNL for 20 years, her most significant role as Director of Science Education.  Throughout her career, she created innovative programs for students and teachers, grade school through graduate school.  She also helped develop state and national academic standards in Science and Humanities.  She earned her Doctorate in Education from Seattle University in 1997.  After retiring from Battelle, she worked three years as a research analyst for a leadership development company.  Throughout her life, she lived and worked in Washington, Idaho, Hawaii, and Colorado, and had extended visits to Santa Barbara, California after retiring.  Following retirement, her passion was writing poetry.  An award-winning poet, her poems appeared in several journals and anthologies, as well as chapbooks and a full-length collection of her poetry.  Her most recent publication is in WA 129, an anthology of selected poems by Washington State poets.  Irene is survived by her brother, Ernie (Marilyn) de la Bretonne Jr., and sister, Patricia de la Bretonne, her son, Michael Hays, and daughter, Shannon (Michael) Hays-Truex, her grandchildren, Crystal (Shawn) Grisenti, Mayra Truex, Bryan Hays, and Sean Truex, and great grandson, Easton Grisenti.  She was preceded in death by her parents. 

A Celebration of Life will be held at Events at Sunset, 915 ByPass Hwy in Richland on Sunday, June 11th, at 3 p.m.  A reception will follow. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her name to the Lewy Body Dementia Association (www.lbda.org).