Betty Coté ... enjoyed playing scrabble; at 95

LEBANON, Maine - Betty Lou Kathryn (Wright) Coté of Lebanon, Maine (formerly of Barrington, Ill), died in the early morning on Thursday, July 6, 2023. She was born on Oct. 27, 1927, in the town of Mt. Forest, Ill., and was the 8th child of 10 of George H. and Flossie Mae (Douglas) Wright. She was the last surviving sibling of what her children call their greatest generation.

In September 1945, at the age of 17 she went into downtown Chicago with two of her older siblings and that is where she met the love of her life, Pete (Roland Coté). The following month he had asked her if she would go with him back to his hometown of Somersworth, N.H., to meet his mother, she told him "No. Not unless you put a ring on my finger." So, he did, and they were married on Christmas Eve in Chicago. They lived in and around the Chicagoland area until 1959 when they purchased their home in Barrington, Ill., where they continued to raise their growing family and lived until Pete's retirement in 1985 and moving to New Hampshire.

Along with raising nine children and helping with many grandchildren along the way, she also had many jobs throughout her life, most remember that for many years she worked at Castleview Restaurant in Fox River Grove, IL., she also worked at Hoffman Estates High School for a short time. Near retirement her daughter Lorrie and her started a cleaning business which she did until Pete's retirement and they moved to Somersworth, where she still cleaned for a couple of elderly people. Pete and her then later bought a home and settled in Lebanon.

Betty was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary 47 in Rollinsford, N.H.. and a long-standing member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Somersworth Post 4485 Veterans of Foreign Wars where she served as Secretary and then Senior Vice President for a time. Her children fondly remember how good of a cook she was...most certainly for her Chicken and Dumplings. She loved to read, play card games, scrabble, and the dice game Farkle.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband Roland "Pete" Arthur, Sr., her son Roland Arthur, Jr., and her daughter Jeanne Marie Dalton. She is survived by her children Richard, Lorrie Incavo (Dominic), Donald (Sandra), Robert (Debra), André, Denise (William Mepham), and John Paul; and at last count 18 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren. Also, many nieces and nephews.