Elaine Anne Mongeon

Elaine (LaPlante) Mongeon

April 25, 1940 — June 24, 2023

Elaine Mongeon, 83, of Brentwood, Tennessee, passed away on Saturday, June 24, 2023, from Alzheimer’s.

Elaine was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Raoul and Edith LaPlante on April 25, 1940. After graduating from Sutton Memorial High School, she attended Becker Junior College and enjoyed a brief stint as a psychiatric medical secretary before marrying Emil Mongeon on September 22, 1962. Soon thereafter, they relocated to Pittsfield, MA, where they lived for the next 18 years and raised their three children: Suzanne, Michelle, and Jeffrey.

While in Pittsfield, Elaine worked as a data processor for Eaton Paper Co. where she taught herself and others how to use one of the first IBM mainframe computers. At Eaton Paper, she met one of her closest friends and her partner in shenanigans, Alice Grenier. While their children were young, they went for a “drive” with the kids to Vermont and returned with pounds and pounds of discounted shrimp. No amount of eating could make a dent in that pile of seafood, but the smell lasted a lifetime!

As her children grew older, she became a neighborhood Campfire Girl Leader and transitioned her career to work as an aide in the Special Education classrooms of the Pittsfield Public Schools. She was widely known to be kind and sweet (although good luck to you if you tried to steal her parking spot!), but those who knew Elaine well also enjoyed her well-placed quips and candor. Even as her memory started failing, her wit was always with her. When she broke her hip in June of 2019, she commented, “This whole old age thing is getting to me.” And when she then asked how she had gotten to the hospital, with her daughter responding, “By an ambulance, it’s a wonderful memory you’ve given to me,” Elaine replied saying, “Well if I gave it to you, no wonder why I don’t have it!”

In 1983, the family moved to Costa Mesa, CA, and Emil and Elaine began their world travels through frequent business trips to Japan, where Emil’s employer was located. They expanded their horizons by visiting landmarks across all of Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.

In 1990, Emil and Elaine moved to Brentwood, TN. Elaine began her final career, supporting a burgeoning residential real estate business with Emil and their daughter Michelle. Elaine’s dedication and organization enabled Emil to serve as the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) Presidential Liaison to Romania, which allowed them to continue a love of travel sparked years earlier and to create friendships with the Romanian people. Emil and Elaine’s travels were integral to the development of the Romanian residential real estate sales market.

Elaine is preceded in death by her husband, Emil; her parents, Raoul and Edith; and Emil’s parents, his 11 siblings and their spouses.

She is survived by her children: Suzanne Tricoli (husband Patrick) of Medford, MA, Michelle Payne (husband Rick) of Brentwood, TN, and Jeffrey Mongeon of Garden Grove, CA; her two grandchildren: Benjamin Hart (fiancé Cecily) of Brooklyn, NY, and Jacqueline Curry (husband Jacob) of Las Vegas, NV; her brother Paul LaPlante (wife Virginia) of Sutton, MA; and 36 nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Thursday, July 6, 2023, from 4-8 pm at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 9090 Highway 100, Nashville, TN 37221.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 10am on Friday, July 7, 2023, at Harpeth Hills. Burial will follow.

In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at https://www.alz.org/