SALEM TOWNSHIP – Elizabeth Cote-Albro was described by those who knew her as a mentor and role model with strength and unfailing good cheer. The Mt. Abram High School librarian will be missed by many in SAD 58. She died at the age of 45 after a 20-year cancer battle.

“She never complained, even to the last minute,” said Waite Albro, her husband of 10 years.

The two met in Rhode Island 20 years ago but did not marry until they moved to Avon, where they built their home together.

Maril Cappelli, Albro’s daughter from a previous marriage, came to a weekend memorial service from Rhode Island with her three sisters, who sang Cote-Albro’s favorite song. Joni Waltonen, Nancy Albro and Laurie Malakoski sang “The Rose,” but were unable to finish the last couple of lines, bursting into tears, according to Waite Albro.

“They loved her dearly,” he said, as did Albro’s former wife who, he said, put her in the prayer list at church each Sunday.

“I feel honored to have taken care of her,” he said, noting that his age, 81, was not a deterrent to Cote-Albro’s desire to be with him.

Jeanne Tucker, principal of Mt. Abram High School, presided over Cote-Albro’s memorial service at the high school Sunday. Approximately 150 people attended, according to Tucker.

The disease became “irrelevant,” said Tucker when describing the 45-year-old’s drive.

“She came here already fighting the disease that took her life, but she never let that diminish her zest for work and service to our kids,” she said in her remarks. “No one I’ve met in my 35 years in education was more dedicated than Liz,” she added.

“The ultimate tribute to her pursuit of excellence and dedication is when, although very sick and close to the end of her life, she came to graduation in June and awarded diplomas to her girls,” said Tucker, referring to Cote-Albro’s advisory group, to whom she was a mentor.

And many agree with Tucker’s description of Cote-Albro.

Stephanie Hood will be starting her freshman year at University of Maine in a few weeks. The 18-year-old from Strong met Cote-Albro in the library where she did what librarians are renowned for doing: shushing her “because I like to talk,” said Hood.

But she wasn’t just a librarian to Hood; she became her mentor, she said.

She and Cote-Albro organized the first Relay for Life team from Mt. Abram High School and worked with Jay High School students to raise money for cancer.

“She always wanted to do things the right way and was willing to help whoever asked her for it,” said Hood. “I look up to her because of her courage and will,” she said in a telephone interview Monday.

In a letter to the editor of the Franklin Journal that she read at the service, Rebecca Robichaud of Phillips said, “Liz was a mentor when no one else was there to look up to.”

“I knew from the beginning that she had cancer, but I never thought about it really. Liz was always so vibrant, so full of life,” said the middle school student.

Both Tucker and Superintendent Quenten Clark remarked about Cote-Albro’s dedication, coming to work on days when they knew she wasn’t feeling well.

Another memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Mishnock Barn in West Greenwich, R.I.

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