Obituary: Evelyn Mader Cote

Evelyn Mader Cote, 103, of Longboat Key, died Oct. 5, one week after celebrating her 103rd birthday.

Born Sept. 27, 1910, in Shelbyville, Ill., she graduated from Illinois State University, in Normal, Ill., in 1932, and married Eugene Mader, of Chicago, in 1937.

The couple and their two children moved in 1946 to Lakeland, where Mrs. Cote was active in Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and the Methodist Church.

Mrs. Cote was widowed in 1964 and moved in 1969 to Longboat Key, where she built a home that became the hub of many family gatherings. During the next two decades, she traveled worldwide, owned and operated an art store, became an avid golfer and accomplished watercolorist, and gradually drew many of her family members to the Bradenton area.

She married George Cote in 1985 and converted to Catholicism.

Mr. Cote preceded her in death in 2010.

Mrs. Cote is survived by her children, Diana Fish and Dennis Mader; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews, along with their children and grandchildren, who gathered yearly to celebrate her life.

A service took place Oct. 11, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bradenton. Memorial donations can be made to Tidewell Hospice, 3355 26th St. W., Bradenton, Fla., 34205.