Jules Cote
Jules D. Coté ESSEX, 78, of Essex, passed away peacefully on Monday, November 17, 2014 on his fourth day at Vermont Respite House in Williston. He was born on September 10, 1936, in Asbestos, Quebec, son of Raoul and Marie-Anne Coté and became a U.S. citizen at age 13. After moving to the United States, he attended Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, then attended and graduated from Manchester High School West as Valedictorian of his 1956 class, and received the coveted Rotary Club Cup Award. He was a member of the National Honor Society, chosen to participate in Boys State, and was the first legally blind student to attend public schools full-time in New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1960 and earned a Masters degree from Boston University in 1965. On September 2, 1961, he married his wife of 53 years, Jacqueline Ann (Hughes), the first couple married in the new St. Athanasius Church in Reading, Massachusetts. Jules loved spending time with his family and friends most of all. He loved travelling the world and meeting new people and cultures; listening to audio books; playing piano especially on his antique player piano; gardening and watching his 6 foot tomato plants grow. He was well known for playing cards – bridge with Jack and Mary and our Vermont friends in a bridge group, canasta, and especially cribbage with his son and grandchildren, good friend Larry, and Florida friends. Jules enjoyed over 50 years of camping – from a two month honeymoon of tent camping with the occasional hotel from NH to FL to Vancouver and back across the Trans-Canada Highway; to the pop-up Cox camper with his children for weeks each summer for adventures in the US and Canada; to many vacation in a motor-home with his children and grandchildren. Jules is famous for his sense of humor and enjoying all things maple. He never passed up a dessert – preferring a dessert with maple syrup on it! He often quipped “life is uncertain, eat dessert first”. While spending recent winters in Florida, he enjoyed being a member of the Board of Directors for six years, and a Past-President of Sleepy Hollow Mobile Estates. Memorable events in his life that he enjoyed include meeting Helen Keller while a student at Perkins School for the Blind, where Helen herself had previously been educated, and then again when he was an adult. At Dartmouth, he enjoyed his job recording the lectures of Robert Frost and got to join a dinner with him at the Hanover Inn. Jules’ favorite quote of Helen Keller: “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. Jules was a Past International Director (2003-2005) of the International Association of Lions Clubs, and a member since 1966 in New Hampshire, South Dakota, New York, and Vermont-most recently with the Essex Junction, Vermont Lions Club. He held many offices within the Association, including Club President, District Sight and Hearing Chairperson, Charter Member of the New Hampshire Sight and Hearing Foundation, District Lions Health Council Chairperson, District Journey for Sight Chairperson, Zone Chairperson, and District Governor. Additionally he had served as advisor to the board of the South Dakota Lions Foundation, and was a Past-President of Vermont Lions Charities. In recognition of his services to the Association, he received numerous awards, including four club Lion of the Year awards, the International Leadership Award, Membership Key Award, Presidential Awards, and Ambassador of Goodwill Medal, the highest honor that the International Association of Lions Clubs grants its members. He was also a multi-level Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow. A man who believed in service, he retired in 2000 after serving thirteen years as Executive Director of the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a non-profit organization founded in 1926 with the help of Helen Keller. It offers free training, services, and support to children from birth to age 22, and adults. Previously, he was the Associate Director of the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults, in Sands Point, New York. Jules worked with numerous professional and community organizations, including being a member of the advisory committee to the Vermont Department of Aging and Disability, and a life member of the National Education Association. In the past, he served as a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, the White House Conference on Disability, and was a founding member of the South Dakota Foundation for the Visually Impaired. He served as a keynote speaker at the Canadian Congress on Rehabilitation; a presenter for the Helen Keller 100th Anniversary Conference; consultant to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to establish a rehabilitation center for the blind in Morocco; Treasurer of the National Council of Private Agencies for the Blind; and President of the Vermont Coalition of Disability Rights. In 1992, he received the Thomas J. Carroll Award for Innovative Leadership in Work for People Who Are Blind, and in 1999, the Vermont Statewide Independent Living Council Award. Jules was predeceased by his parents, his brothers Alphonse and Francois, and his sister Fleurette Dubois. He is survived by his wife Jacqueline; son Marc and Michelle Coté of Delaware, daughter Carmelle and John Terborgh of Essex Jct., and five grandchildren - Emma, Hannah, and Christian Coté, and Bryce and Graham Terborgh; his sister Sr. Carmelle Coté, fmm of Montreal; his sister Sr. Reine Marie Coté, pm, brother Leo and Rita Cote and brother Ron and Diane Cote of New Hampshire, his sister Rachel and Don Brochu of Massachusetts; and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and their families. A Mass, followed by a memorial gathering in the Parish Hall, will be held at Holy Family Church, 36 Lincoln Street, Essex Jct., Vermont 05452, on Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 12:30pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to: Lions Clubs International Foundation, Dept. 4757, Carol Stream, IL 60122-4547. https://lcif.org/EN/ways-to-give/lion-memory-honor-donation.php (you may select non-member) or Vermont Respite House, 99 Allen Brook Rd., Williston, Vermont 05495. www.vnacares.org/donate/remembering-honoring-loved-ones (to support VRH) Vermont Lions Charities, c/o DG Ken Emery, 146 Eagle Park Drive, Colchester, VT 05446, with notation in memory of PID Jules Cote.Obituary
Jules D. Coté ESSEX, 78, of Essex, passed away peacefully on Monday, November 17, 2014 on his fourth day at Vermont Respite House in Williston. He was born on September 10, 1936, in Asbestos, Quebec, son of Raoul and Marie-Anne Coté and became a U.S. citizen at age 13. After moving to the United States, he attended Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, then attended and graduated from Manchester High School West as Valedictorian of his 1956 class, and received the coveted Rotary Club Cup Award. He was a member of the National Honor Society, chosen to participate in Boys State, and was the first legally blind student to attend public schools full-time in New Hampshire. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1960 and earned a Masters degree from Boston University in 1965. On September 2, 1961, he married his wife of 53 years, Jacqueline Ann (Hughes), the first couple married in the new St. Athanasius Church in Reading, Massachusetts. Jules loved spending time with his family and friends most of all. He loved travelling the world and meeting new people and cultures; listening to audio books; playing piano especially on his antique player piano; gardening and watching his 6 foot tomato plants grow. He was well known for playing cards – bridge with Jack and Mary and our Vermont friends in a bridge group, canasta, and especially cribbage with his son and grandchildren, good friend Larry, and Florida friends. Jules enjoyed over 50 years of camping – from a two month honeymoon of tent camping with the occasional hotel from NH to FL to Vancouver and back across the Trans-Canada Highway; to the pop-up Cox camper with his children for weeks each summer for adventures in the US and Canada; to many vacation in a motor-home with his children and grandchildren. Jules is famous for his sense of humor and enjoying all things maple. He never passed up a dessert – preferring a dessert with maple syrup on it! He often quipped “life is uncertain, eat dessert first”. While spending recent winters in Florida, he enjoyed being a member of the Board of Directors for six years, and a Past-President of Sleepy Hollow Mobile Estates. Memorable events in his life that he enjoyed include meeting Helen Keller while a student at Perkins School for the Blind, where Helen herself had previously been educated, and then again when he was an adult. At Dartmouth, he enjoyed his job recording the lectures of Robert Frost and got to join a dinner with him at the Hanover Inn. Jules’ favorite quote of Helen Keller: “alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. Jules was a Past International Director (2003-2005) of the International Association of Lions Clubs, and a member since 1966 in New Hampshire, South Dakota, New York, and Vermont-most recently with the Essex Junction, Vermont Lions Club. He held many offices within the Association, including Club President, District Sight and Hearing Chairperson, Charter Member of the New Hampshire Sight and Hearing Foundation, District Lions Health Council Chairperson, District Journey for Sight Chairperson, Zone Chairperson, and District Governor. Additionally he had served as advisor to the board of the South Dakota Lions Foundation, and was a Past-President of Vermont Lions Charities. In recognition of his services to the Association, he received numerous awards, including four club Lion of the Year awards, the International Leadership Award, Membership Key Award, Presidential Awards, and Ambassador of Goodwill Medal, the highest honor that the International Association of Lions Clubs grants its members. He was also a multi-level Progressive Melvin Jones Fellow. A man who believed in service, he retired in 2000 after serving thirteen years as Executive Director of the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a non-profit organization founded in 1926 with the help of Helen Keller. It offers free training, services, and support to children from birth to age 22, and adults. Previously, he was the Associate Director of the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults, in Sands Point, New York. Jules worked with numerous professional and community organizations, including being a member of the advisory committee to the Vermont Department of Aging and Disability, and a life member of the National Education Association. In the past, he served as a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, the White House Conference on Disability, and was a founding member of the South Dakota Foundation for the Visually Impaired. He served as a keynote speaker at the Canadian Congress on Rehabilitation; a presenter for the Helen Keller 100th Anniversary Conference; consultant to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to establish a rehabilitation center for the blind in Morocco; Treasurer of the National Council of Private Agencies for the Blind; and President of the Vermont Coalition of Disability Rights. In 1992, he received the Thomas J. Carroll Award for Innovative Leadership in Work for People Who Are Blind, and in 1999, the Vermont Statewide Independent Living Council Award. Jules was predeceased by his parents, his brothers Alphonse and Francois, and his sister Fleurette Dubois. He is survived by his wife Jacqueline; son Marc and Michelle Coté of Delaware, daughter Carmelle and John Terborgh of Essex Jct., and five grandchildren - Emma, Hannah, and Christian Coté, and Bryce and Graham Terborgh; his sister Sr. Carmelle Coté, fmm of Montreal; his sister Sr. Reine Marie Coté, pm, brother Leo and Rita Cote and brother Ron and Diane Cote of New Hampshire, his sister Rachel and Don Brochu of Massachusetts; and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins and their families. A Mass, followed by a memorial gathering in the Parish Hall, will be held at Holy Family Church, 36 Lincoln Street, Essex Jct., Vermont 05452, on Saturday, November 29, 2014 at 12:30pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to: Lions Clubs International Foundation, Dept. 4757, Carol Stream, IL 60122-4547. https://lcif.org/EN/ways-to-give/lion-memory-honor-donation.php (you may select non-member) or Vermont Respite House, 99 Allen Brook Rd., Williston, Vermont 05495. www.vnacares.org/donate/remembering-honoring-loved-ones (to support VRH) Vermont Lions Charities, c/o DG Ken Emery, 146 Eagle Park Drive, Colchester, VT 05446, with notation in memory of PID Jules Cote.
Events
12:30 PM
ESSEX JUNCTION, VT 05452