Bernard J. Cote
1941 – 2009

ST. HELENS, Ore. — Bernard Joseph Cote a resident of St. Helens, Ore., passed away on July 17, after a short battle with cancer.

He was born Oct. 3, 1941, in Quebec, Canada, to Leo-Paul and Ella Cote. After serving in the Canadian Air Force in the early 1960s, he obtained a work visa to come to the United States. He moved to Revere, Mass., in 1969, where he and his former wife started their family, where their two children were born.

He was employed with various electrical apparatus repair companies throughout the United States for more than his 40 plus years in the country. He became a U.S. Citizen on Jan. 20, 1977.

Bernie moved to Oregon in 1973, where he became employed with Westinghouse Electrical Repair Co. He always called Oregon “God’s Country” because it offered so much to his love of the outdoors from fishing to hunting to camping and even clamming with his children when they were young on the Oregon coast.

In 1981, he and his first wife and their two children moved to West Gardiner to be closer to their families who are still in Canada. After their marriage ended in 1988, he and his son moved back to Oregon. In 1992, he met Jacqueline Sue Sholtey and they were married on Feb. 19, 1993.

He is survived by his wife, Jackie; son, Michael and wife, Lynda, of Indian Trail, N.C.; daughter, Manon “Moe” Powers and her husband, Chris, of Jay; stepdaughter, Tina Ginther and her husband, Chris, of Deer Island, Ore.; brothers, Lucien, Gaetan, Gerald and Jean-Paul; sisters, Ginette and Lise, all in various parts of Canada; and grandchildren, Susan, Alexandrea and Kyle; and seven step-grandchildren.

At the time of his death, he was awaiting the birth of his first great-granddaughter, to be named Charlotte, due in early November.