Jane Willoughby Cote

Jane Willoughby Cote was born April 21, 1929, and passed away Jan. 18, 2021. She was the daughter of Carl and Bernice Willoughby and is survived by her daughters, Betsy Jane Hurles (Donald) and Sue Ann Cummings (Patrick). She has four grandchildren, Rose Marie Hanks (Patrick), Lori Beth Carpenter (Stephen), Mandy Jane Chandler, and Jordan Thomas Chandler (Dani). She has six great-grandchildren, Amelia, Austin and Colleen Hanks, Elijah and Wesley Carpenter, and Connor Chandler. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Ramona Burrows, and her husband of 54 years, George T. Cote Jr. (Skip).

Jane was born in Moultonborough, N.H., and graduated high school in 1947. She wanted to be a teacher and attended Plymouth Teacher's College, graduating in 1951. During college, she met her husband, Skip; this was the beginning to their half century love story! They married on July 24, 1953.

Jane and Skip moved many places during his career in the USAF until he retired in Blytheville. Throughout all of the moves, Jane continued to teach elementary school. While living in Arkansas, Jane taught first grade for 17 years at Luxora Elementary, retiring in 1996. She later returned to Luxora and taught sixth grade for four more years. Overall, she taught for over 40 years and continued to keep up with many of her fellow teachers, students, and their families until her death.

Jane loved various types of hand-crafts sewing clothes for friends and others. While she had knitted for many years, she focused on knitting baby blankets, hats, and bootie sets for preemies in neo-natal care units that were distributed through Threads of Love. At one point, she was knitting a complete set each week. In addition, she knit dishcloths gifting them to family, friends, and also to doctors, nurses, and others. Her kindness also kept the postman busy, sending cards of encouragement. When she received 205 birthday cards on her 88th birthday, the common theme was her generosity and kindness. She was deeply loved and will be missed dearly.