Lucille LaCoe

Lucille LaCoe, 94, longtime resident of Manchester, wife for 57 years of the late Burt LaCoe, passed peacefully May 31, 2018, at Seabury Skilled Nursing.

Born June 10, 1923, in Astoria, New York, daughter of the late Louis and Lillian (Ollendorf) Wehrli, Lu attended Ridgefield Park High (New Jersey) then Roosevelt Hospital School of Nursing (New York City). She loved all phases of her nursing career: after serving as a U.S. Army officer war nurse, where she met her husband Burt, she had a long career including work at Hartford Hospital, the Manchester Visiting Nurses Association and the New London Convalescent Home.

Upon retirement, she served on the boards of the local Cancer Society and Visiting Nurses Society. Lu was well known for her care of family, friends, neighbors, and community. Lu showed her great dignity and strength in coming back from a serious stroke to continue living independently for many years. She felt the Arbors of Manchester was a great haven for her in later life. Lu combined her love of both cards and her girlfriends into 50 years playing, talking, and laughing at the bridge table with her club called "We Need Each Other" (WNEO).

Lu is survived by her daughter, Suzanne LaCoe Valade and her husband, Ray, of Bloomfield; son, Dean LaCoe and his wife, Leslie, of Sebastopol, California; her adored grandchildren, Stephanie Islaub (Christopher) and Melissa Mulvey (Christian), both of West Hartford; her great-grandchildren, Conor, Rebecca, and Julia; her brother, Robert Wehrli of Olympia, Washington; a niece and namesake, Lu-Ellen (Wehrli) Edwards and her husband, David, of Marina Del Rey, California; and a nephew, Dr. Craig Wehrli and his wife, Jane, of Olympia.

Friends are invited to join the family for remembrance at 2 p.m. June 8, at The Arbors at Hopbrook, 403 West Center St., Manchester.

Memorial donations in memory of Lucille are welcomed at The American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20852

www.kidneyfund.org