Joan Cote

Joan Adelaide Cote, 87, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on November 3, 2023. Born June 20, 1936, in Smyrna Mills, Maine to Joseph and Beatrice (Dickinson) Clark, Joan spent her childhood in Orrington, Maine and later in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, graduating from Duncan U. Fletcher High School in 1953.

Following high school Joan attended St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Jacksonville, Florida, graduating in 1956 with a nursing diploma. She returned to Maine where she met Romeo Albert Cote on a dance floor; they married in 1959 and started a family.

For more than 40 years Joan applied her nursing skills at various locations including St Joseph’s Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine, specializing in obstetrics bringing new lives into the world. She worked for Dr. Donald Coulton, MD, and later with Dr. Anders Netland, MD, both of whom she had great respect and admiration. The last of her nursing career she worked with the American Red Cross traveling throughout the state of Maine on blood drives. She enjoyed a wonderful, fulfilling career nursing and caring.

Joan was a very talented woman. She was a perfectionist. She found enjoyment in various arts and crafts, from sewing and making clothing to upholstering furniture. She was particularly fond and accomplished at playing the piano, a passion she shared with her family and passed on to her children and grandchildren. Her all-time favorite piece to play was the “The Entertainer”, readapted by Marvin and Hamlisch, and she mastered it. Through the years, there were many family and friend gatherings, the best of which were when there was a piano present. Whether it was a community hall, a living room, or even a garage, she would be seated at the piano and playing out songs by request. She knew how to entertain.

Joan summered at Beach Hill Pond in Otis, Maine with her family and friends. She was the go-to nurse for all the neighboring camp owners tending to broken bones, removing fishhooks, applying dressings to cuts and scrapes, sometimes treating more serious wounds, and even mending hurt feelings from time to time. No matter the situation, calm and composed was her mainstay - she never got alarmed. She was the matriarch of the family. She was very orderly and always ensured her children had what they needed to be successful; she kept a tight ship.

Joan was predeceased by her husband Romeo and her siblings Jennie Hersey, Glenna Schroeder, Elizabeth Keene, Geraldine Clark, and Frank Stevens. She is survived by her three children Joseph and his wife Mary Jane (Spear) Cote of Brewer, Maine; daughters Judith and her husband Keith Hodgdon of Naples, Maine, and Janet Cote Keefe of Brewer, Maine; six grandchildren Elizabeth and Erika Cote; Leia Hodgdon; and Adrianna, Samuel, and Jayden Keefe as well as several nieces and nephews including a special niece Cathy (Cote) Russell of Brewer, Maine.

Her children wish to extend their sincerest gratitude and gratefulness to the Androscoggin Hospice House in Auburn, Maine, and to its wonderful, devoted team who cared for their mom her last days.
A Celebration of Life gathering will be held from 1-3:00 PM, Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at the Family Reception Center of Brookings-Smith, 163 Center St., Bangor. Those who wish to remember Joan in a special way may make gifts in her memory to the Bangor Humane Society, 693 Mt Hope Avenue, Bangor, ME 04401. Condolences to the family may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com