Vivian Cotter

NORWICH. Vivian Ann Cotter, née Bolduc, left this life on May 9th from natural causes. She was 98 years old, still maintained her own house, and remained quick-witted to the end.

Vivian was born to Charles and Medora Jodoin Bolduc on January 10th, 1917. She attended St. Patrick’s Elementary School and The Norwich Free Academy (class of 1936) and later studied merchandising at Lasall College. It was at NFA that she met her future husband, Arthur E. Cotter. After his death in 2006, Vivian would recall how he once raced across town during the height of the Hurricane of '38 to see that she and her family were safe. “We heard a knock and were all startled, but it was just Art's flashlight on the door.”

Immediately after peace was declared on the Western Front after WWII, Vivian sailed across the Atlantic with her young son on the first ship of American dependents to be quartered with their husbands and fathers in Germany during the Allied occupation. She was a magnificent cook and housekeeper, and though Munich after the war was a difficult place, she bore up to it with courage and resolve.

The Cotters returned to Norwich upon Colonel Cotter’s retirement from the military and lived at the corner of Washington and East Town Street for the rest of their lives. They wintered in Florida (both were avid golfers) and summered on Pleasure Beach in Waterford in a house that Vivian's father had built in 1920. Her fondest memories were centered in that tiny community where she swam and entertained her many friends for 90 consecutive summers. They also traveled to Mexico, Romania, Ireland, and throughout the United States.

Vivian was a Connecticut Artist who took exacting care with her work and showed her paintings throughout Southeastern Connecticut. She and her husband of 65 years were great fun to be around, a sharp and vibrant couple who played wonderfully off one another's strengths: he was warm and wise, she was elegant and discriminating.

“Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe,” she often said, and among those she loved were her son John, daughter-in-law Linda, grandchildren John (and his wife Elisa Gabbert) and Erin (and her husband Brian Wise), and her great grandson Colin Wise.

A devout Catholic she was a communicant at Sacred Heart Church in Norwichtown. Donations may be sent there in her name.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Monday, June 8th, 2015 at 10am at Sacred Heart Church - Norwichtown, 52 West Town St., Norwich, CT. Burial is private at the convenience of the family. There are no calling hours.

To leave a condolence, please visit www.labenskifuneralhome.com