June 23 2017: PLANTE, Corinne Frances LaMothe

Corinne Frances LaMothe Plante

Corinne Plante, wife of Commander Richard Plante (deceased), USN, died in her home in Kensington, Maryland, on June 17 after a long illness.  She was 97.  She is survived by 4 children: Martin of Rockville, MD; Susan Butler of Beckleysville, MD; Philip of Olney, MD; and Frances Cady of Aspen Hill, MD.  She is also survived by 8 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.  Ms. Plante will be inurned at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.

Mrs. Plante was born in the Bronx in New York City in 1920 to Hippolyte and Laura LaMothe, both originally from Quebec.  She learned to speak both French and English fluently.  At a young age, Ms. Plante moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where she spent most of her early life.  Her father died during the first years of the Great Depression and, as a young teen, Mrs. Plante helped her mother run a boarding house to support the family.  During World War II, Mrs. Plante volunteered at the local USO where she met and became betrothed to a young pilot who was subsequently killed in action.  After that, she opened and ran a successful beauty shop in Manchester.   In 1945, she met and married then Lt. Richard Plante, also of Manchester, who was home on recuperation leave from injuries suffered during the war.  Like many post-war romances, their courtship was a mere two weeks long but their marriage lasted 53 happy years until her husband’s death in 1997.   Mrs. Plante sold her business upon getting married to travel with her husband to his many billets.  As a Navy wife, Mrs. Plante had to run the household and raise a family on her own when her husband was away at sea, and endured 21 different moves around the country.   But the Navy gave her the opportunity to experience different parts of the country, something she always appreciated.  She settled in Kensington, Maryland, when her husband retired from active service in 1963, and lived the rest of her years there.  Ms. Plante enjoyed traveling, cooking, knitting and crocheting, gardening, reading, and visits from her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.