Cecile Noella Jolicoeur

JOLICOEUR, Cecile (Dolly)

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Cecile Noella Jolicoeur (nee Dallaire), on April 19,2025. Cecile is now re-united with her loving husband Rene (they were married for 76 years). Rene passed away on December 16,2024.

Cecile is survived by her 5 children: Annette (Mel), Gerry (Marya), Jacklyn, Elaine, Lori (Tom), 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Cecile was predeceased by her father, Albert Dallaire, mother Florence Beauchamp, and two brothers Ernie and Norm Dallaire.

Cecile was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario on Christmas day in 1928. Shortly after she was born the family moved to Sudbury then to Timmins, Ontario. Her father Albert changed their last name to Delaire to fit in with the Italian community for business opportunities.

Cecile attended public school and was taught in both English and French in Ontario. One of her treasured mementos is a portrait of her wearing her school uniform when she was a young girl.

The family migrated from Timmins, Ontario to BC in 1942. Between 1942 and 1947 Cecile had many changes in her life: She was a student at St Ann’s Convent Academy (New Westminster). In 1945 she worked at the Dominion Woolens Mill in Hespeler, Ontario. In 1947 she was in Powell River, BC with her Dad (worked at the Rodmay Hotel). Next, she worked as an operator at BC Tel, and finally a store clerk at Woodwards.

Albert Dallaire and Eddie Jolicoeur had known each other in Timmins, Ontario. They moved both their families to Vancouver and kept in touch. By 1947, their children Cecile and Rene were dating. They were engaged on Christmas Eve in 1947 and were married in August 1948.

While Rene was establishing himself in the culinary world, Cecile continued working at Woodward’s until she became pregnant. They had 5 children in less than 10 years!

Over the years Cecile and Rene focused on family life and the top priority was to find a home for their growing family. While Rene worked up to 3 jobs at once to provide for the family, Cecile managed the family finances and undertook various activities to make it all work: She sewed children’s clothing; crocheted; rented rooms in the 1st family home on Quebec Street; rented a basement suite (the mortgage helper) in the 2nd family home on West 14th Avenue; shopped at $1.49 day for many years, and she had a strict family budget without frills that met her children needs as they multiplied and grew. Our education was very important to her, and she ensured that all her children were able to attend St. Patrick’s private school in Vancouver for all of their elementary and most of their high school years.

One of Cecile’s biggest gifts to her children was to establish family traditions for us to experience during our childhood and share and re-create once we had families of our own. These traditions included food such as Tourtière, Pâté Chinois, porcupine meat balls and lemon meringue pies and celebrations such as birthdays, family picnics, Halloween and “the Christmas extravaganza”, to name but a few of these. We have many memories of these special times together as a family.

Once her youngest child Lori started kindergarten, Cecile returned to the workforce and worked for nearly 20 years at the iconic Bay store in downtown Vancouver. She sat at a specially designated booth at the entrance to the famous skywalk between the Bay store and the parkade on Seymour Street and collected parkade fees from customers

Cecile and Rene loved to travel by car. They travelled thousands of miles throughout Canada and the United States over the years. Their favorite car destination was Reno, Lake Tahoe and/or Las Vegas. Cecile was the navigator and Rene was the driver.

In 1989 they completed a 3-month adventure travelling by car in New Zealand and Australia. In 1999 they flew to France and visited Paris and the French Riviera. And over the course of more than 30 years they went on numerous cruises to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexican Riviera, New England, Pacific Coast, Panama Canal and South America. They made many friends during their travels and exchanged letters over the years. Cecile loved to recount their travel adventure stories, and Rene would always add a humorous note to these.

A joint celebration of life church service will be held for both Cecile and Rene at Our Lady of Fatima Church at 315 Walker Street, Coquitlam, B.C. on July 10,2025 starting at 10:00 am. A reception will follow at 11:00 am in the church hall.