Louise H. Cote<br/> September 12, 1926 - January 1, 2015

Louise Helen (“Franky”) Cote passed away peacefully on New Year’s Day 2015 at her son’s home in Santa Barbara, California, surrounded by her loving family and friends.

She will be remembered by three generations of first-grade students at Mariners Elementary School in Newport Beach, California (whom she taught to read, write, count to 100 by 1’s, and say “please” and “thank you”), by her countless friends on Balboa Island (and all their cats and dogs - for which she always had a treat in her pocket), and by the many golfers who joined her for a round (even those who lost dimes on her friendly wagers for drives in the fairway and one-putts).

Born September 12, 1926, in Astoria, Oregon, the daughter of Oregon State Senator and attorney Frank Mitchel Franciscovich and Louise Leinenweber Franciscovich, Franky was a woman ahead of her time. She was the only female page in the Oregon Senate in 1942, as a teenager was elected President of the Clatsop County 4-H Club, and earned her private pilot license at the age of 20. She was an outstanding athlete: she was girls swimming champion at the 1942 Astoria Regatta and a certified life guard; she won the 1956 women’s golf championship at Kelly Air Force Base, played golf regularly until she was 85, and had seven holes-in-one; she was an accomplished ice dancer, a patient ice skating instructor, and a graceful downhill skier. For many years before starting her teaching career, she played championship-level bridge.

Franky attended Oregon State College, Corvallis, where she earned her degree in Home Economics and was a sorority member of Alpha Chi Omega. During college, she met and married on December 21, 1946, Major Elmer Lee Cote, who had just served a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, first stateside as a flight instructor, then as a ferry pilot in the Ferry Command, and then in the Pacific Theater as a troop and hospital transport pilot, and who was then earning his degree in Engineering on the G.I. Bill of Rights.

After their college graduation in June 1947, Elmer joined the U.S. Air Force. During their overseas duty (1948-1951), they were stationed in Athens, Rome, and at the Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. They returned stateside, where their two children were born, Christine C. Gress and James F. Cote, both of whom are now attorneys living in Santa Barbara. Elmer retired from the military in 1962.

In 1967, they moved to Newport Beach to live the rest of their lives. Elmer was instrumental in the creation of Air California, a domestic airline based at John Wayne Airport which later merged into American Airlines, and served as its Chief Pilot until his retirement in 1980. Franky served as the first-grade teacher in Room 3 at Mariners until her retirement in 1983. They were avid golfers and active members of the Newport Beach Country Club, and enjoyed playing civilian and military courses together around the world. Franky cared for Elmer at home during his three year battle with ALS, until he passed on December 1, 2001.

Franky was completely devoted to her family - and to her students. She taught first grade “on contract” for 25 years, 16 of which were at Mariners. After her formal retirement, she volunteered every day as a teacher’s aide at Mariners, tutoring kindergarten and first-grade children in reading, writing, and math, for 31 more years, right up until ill health forced her to stop, just seven weeks before she died. All told, Franky taught children at Mariners for an amazing length of time - 47 years.

She firmly believed that education was the best investment one could make, because, no matter what happened in life, it could never be taken away.

As everyone who ever met Franky knows, she enjoyed talking with people of all ages and all walks of life, and always had something positive to say. She regularly reminded us, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

Franky was preceded in death by her parents and by her brothers, Gerald Franciscovich of Seaside, Oregon, and Frank Franciscovich, Jr., of Spokane, Washington. She is survived by her son, James F. Cote, his wife, Margaret, and their children, Connor and Kelly, by her daughter, Christine Gress, her husband, David Gress, and his children, Gina and Andy (whom she called her “bonus grandchildren”), and by her sister-in-law, Janet Franciscovich of Napa, California, whom she loved as a true sister.

At her direction, no funeral or celebration of life will be held. Donations in her memory may be made to the Mariners Elementary School Foundation or to the American Cancer Society.