Coeta Pacot has spent nearly all of her life in the Yuba-Sutter area, seeing the landmarks and city dynamics change over the years. As a young woman, Pacot couldn’t fathom making it to 100.
“I didn’t have enough sense to think I’d be here tomorrow,” she said.
Pacot was born on Jan. 28, 1923, in a small community near Westville, Oklahoma. Her family moved to California when she was a young girl and settled in Marysville by the time she was 10. While looking back on her long life, Pacot said that she has been most awed by the way Marysville and Yuba City have grown in their respective ways.
“Back when I was growing up, they were called the Twin Cities, and Marysville was the bigger of the two. For 10 cents you could ride a streetcar from Marysville to Yuba City. Yuba City was more for farmers and agriculture and Marysville was more like the city. Now it’s the opposite,” she said.
Pacot attended Linda Elementary School in Marysville as a young girl. One of her favorite memories from that time was walking with her class for over 3 miles from Linda Elementary to Marysville High School to place a Maypole on the high school campus.
As Pacot became a teenager, she took part in a lot of popular pastimes for the area. Driving around town with other teenagers or seeing a drive-in movie were among the most common activities to do on a Friday night, she said.
“You could find everyone driving around. That was the thing to do back then,” Pacot said.
However, unlike other teens in the area, Pacot did not finish high school. After moving outside the Yuba-Sutter area with her family for a brief time, Pacot married and started a family at a young age.
For over 40 years, Pacot and her husband Robert Montogomery built a life in the Yuba-Sutter area with four children. Shortly after their first son was born, Pacot began working as a custodian for Lindhurst High School. She said that the job worked perfectly for her because she was able to bring her youngest son with her to work each day. According to Pacot, Linda Elementary School did not have a kindergarten program at that time, so she had to bring her child with her to work.
Over the course of her career, Pacot would go on to become the head of food services for the Marysville Joint Unified School District until retiring in 1987.
Following the death of her first husband, Pacot met her second husband Willis at a church gathering for single members.
“We attended a lunch for single folks. I saw Willis and the Lord said to me, ‘He needs somebody to take care of him,’ so that’s what I’ve been doing all these years,” she said.
Pacot’s son, Doug Pacot, said that their marriage made a “wonderful blended family.” As of her 100th birthday, Coeta Pacot has four children, four step-children and 16 grandchildren.
Doug Pacot said that his mother had two separate parties with her church and family members to celebrate her 100th birthday.
“There’s not much you can get for someone who turns 100. Just being there to show support and being there on her special day,” he said.
At her age, Coeta Pacot is most proud of having built strong connections with her family and friends.
“I’ve had such a wonderful family. I’m just excited to say that I’m still kicking. The Lord has truly kept and blessed me all these years,” she said.
