Couple's future 'ripped away'

Family mourns loss of woman killed in boat collision on holiday weekend

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO

Juliette Côté, 22, was killed when a boat she, her partner and several friends were aboard was struck by a speedboat on Bobs Lake on May 18. Two others were also killed.

Juliette Côté wanted to see Highland cows for her 23rd birthday.

Her mom, Alison, laughs as she tries to explain it. Côté thought the shaggy, often roan-brown cattle with curved horns were, simply put, adorable. All she asked for was to pet some.

It was exactly the type of request -goofy, lovable-Côté's family had come to expect from the woman who loved ripping around her maternal grandparents property on a 4x4, as much as she did staying in to play cards with her parents.

Her proud mother had it all arranged: A surprise, mid-June weekend trip to a farm near Peterborough, Ont., to meet the fuzzy beasts They would celebrate not only her birthday but her upcoming college graduation.

Instead, Alison; her husband, Jim; their son, Jack; his girlfriend, Emily; and Côté's longtime partner, Ben Viau, were suddenly planning a funeral at the home she loved - with more than 500 people in attendance after she was killed in a boat crash May 18 on Bobs Lake, north of her hometown of Kingston, while enjoying a long weekend with friends.
She was just 22.