Born in St. Agatha, Maine, Laurette Ayotte enrolled at Aroostook State Teachers College in 1929.  The harsh realities of the Great Depression interrupted her dream of a college degree, and she began her teaching career to help support her family.  She married Richard Ayotte in 1937, and they started a family that would grow to include twelve children.  In 1958, Richard, a Sidney dairy farmer, died suddenly of a heart attack.  Widowed at 44, with twelve children from one to eighteen years of age and limited financial resources, Mrs. Ayotte faced an uncertain future, a future that threatened the break up of her family.  By resuming her teaching career and relying upon her deep faith in God, she found the courage and perseverance to keep her family together and successfully raise her children, seeing them earn twelve college degrees. 

            Mrs. Ayotte still resides in Sidney, Maine.  In addition to her son, Thomas College Board of Trustees' Chair Conrad Ayotte, a 1977 Thomas graduate, other members of the Ayotte family who received degrees from Thomas include:  Denise Ayotte Gunderson, Class of 1979; Richard Ayotte, Class of 1969; and Germaine Ayotte McLellan, Class of 1986.