Ernest Adolphe Côté (12 June 1913 – 25 February 2015), was a Canadian soldier, diplomat and civil servant. Youth Côté was born in Edmonton, Alberta to French-Canadian parents. His parents were Senator Jean Côté and Cécile Côté (née Gagnon). Côté's father was a government land surveyor from Quebec who went west in 1903 to determine the frontier between Alaska and the Yukon, and he subsequently became active as a mining engineer in Alberta, enjoying much success in his field and then entered politics. Côté's mother came from a wealthy Quebec City family and she used her wealth to become a great patron of music, having help found the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club of Quebec City (now the Club musical de Québec) and the Ladies’ Musical Club of Edmonton (now the Edmonton Musical Club). Côté was educated at Edmonton's Jesuit College and one friend recalled: "His French was impeccable — just as one would expect of someone who studied with the Jesuits". Côté was born and grew up in Alberta, but his Jesuit collège classique education was very typical of the education of the Quebecois grande bourgeoisie at the time. The collège classique education put a strong emphasis on French, Latin, Greek, the classics, rhetoric, the letters, philosophy, math, European history and Catholic theology. Côté was raised in a French-speaking household and educated in French, but as he grew up in a mostly English-speaking city, he was fluently bilingual. In September 1924, his father died, forcing several of his older brothers to drop out of school to take jobs in order to support their younger siblings. In 1931, he was awarded a Bachelor of Science at Université Laval. After graduation, Côté worked as a civil servant for the Alberta government and became involved in the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta group that campaigned to preserve French in Alberta. Côté also worked as a radio announcer for Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission and served as the bilingual host on a radio show that played classical music every week. Starting in 1935, he attended the University of Alberta where he was awarded a LL.B. in 1938 and in 1939 joined the Law Society of Alberta. Côté was always proud to be both a westerner and a French-Canadian. As a member of a minority, Côté defined his sense of Canadian nationalism in civic terms instead of ethnic terms. Côté chose as his motto: "Faire ce qui