Rita Marie Coseo Lapointe, a former Registered Nurse and mother of six, died on Thursday, December 29th, 2016 in Boston, MA after a brief illness. She was 100. Mrs. Lapointe was born in 1916 in Watertown to Frances Alice Donoghue Coseo of Gananoque, Ontario and Frank Peter Coseo of Watertown. She was predeceased by three brothers, Robert (Bob), Harold, and the Rev. Msgr. Gordon Coseo. She graduated from Holy Family high school at the age of 16, where, despite her diminutive stature, she played center on the girls’ basketball team. Ms. Coseo completed her nursing training at the old Mercy Hospital in 1936. During her rounds as a nurse at Mercy, she met and later married Lawrence Anthony Lapointe, originally of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, in 1938. Together, they raised six children, all of whom attended Holy Family elementary and Immaculate Heart Academy, renamed Immaculate Heart Central high school. The family spent their summers at a camp initially built by her father-in-law on the then unpopulated shore of Henderson Bay near Sackets Harbor.
Mrs. Lapointe became the Assistant Director of Nursing at Madonna Home and retired in 1978. She and her family were active members of Holy Family Parish in Watertown and St. Andrew Church in Sackets Harbor. Rita and Larry purchased and renovated a home on Academy Street in Watertown in 1938 where they lived until 1978. Upon their retirements from Madonna Home and the New York Life Insurance Company, respectively, Rita and Larry relocated to Ocean Springs, MS. Mr. Lapointe predeceased his wife in 1991.
Mrs. Lapointe relocated to Vero Beach, FL in 1999 where she lived until 2009 when she moved to the Boston area. She is survived by her six children: Yvonne Cevello (Pleasanton, CA), Joseph Lapointe (Newcomb, NY), Mary Alice Lapointe (Boston, MA), David Lapointe (Ocean Springs, MS), Stephen Lapointe (Vero Beach, FL) and Jane Lapointe (Portland, OR); 18 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Goddard House, Olmsted Neighborhood, 165 Chestnut Street, Brookline, MA 02445 where Rita received loving care during the last years of her life. Family and friends will assemble for an interment at Glennwood Cemetery at 11AM on June 10th followed by an informal luncheon for family and friends at The Hilton Garden Inn in Watertown.