Donald “Butch” Turcotte played in the final minutes of his personal journey on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024, at the Nipissing Serenity Hospice. He was surrounded by some of his biggest fans and true to form, he went down swinging.
Butch was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario on February 21, 1942, and spent his childhood there, attending Kapuskasing District High School. Butch was known for chasing pucks on the rink and speckled trout in the local rivers. To this day, he still has many good friends from his days up north.
Always a visionary, Butch set his sights on attending an American University on a hockey scholarship. He wrote to several institutions, using the addresses at the back of his dictionary. Eventually, he settled on Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts where he would be inducted into their Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Upon graduation as a teacher, Butch returned to Ontario and spent a short period of time teaching in South Porcupine before establishing his roots in North Bay, where he taught at both Ecole Secondaire Algonquin and then retiring from St. Joseph - Scollard Hall. “Mr. Turcotte” was well known for having impeccable accuracy throwing chalk at students caught daydreaming during class.
Butch also began coaching hockey in North Bay first with Algonquin’s high school hockey team, then the North Bay Trappers of the POHA, where he would eventually win a league championship in 1975. Together with John Cable, Butch realized his dream of establishing a AAA program in North Bay. He went on to coach at this level for many years, culminating with the Air Canada Cup National Championship with his son Darren’s Pinehill Coffee Shop Midget AAA team, in front of a sell-out crowd at Memorial Gardens. Beyond coaching many teams, Butch also ran a successful hockey school during the summer where he had an impact on hundreds of hockey players. Northland Hockey School drew players from around the world to attend.
Butch was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, was a recipient of the Pete Palangio Award for dedication and contribution to sport in 1984, the Judge Harry J Reynolds Memorial Trophy for dedication to the sport of hockey as a coach in 1984 and in 2000 was honoured as one of the Top 20 Builders of Sport in North Bay.
For over 40 years Butch maintained with diligence and love an outdoor rink in his backyard in West Ferris, which eventually became known as the Labreche Forum. Butch’s children and grandchildren spent hundreds of hours skating on the rink and this is where many local kids learned how to skate. “The Forum” had the claim to fame of being the first outdoor rink in town to be ready at the beginning of the season, and last to be available at the end.
In recent years Butch could be found at area rinks watching hockey of all levels. He took such pride in watching his grandchildren Devan, Gordie and Gracie on the ice at both games and practices. He travelled the highway to watch the Powassan Voodoos, and enjoyed the odd OHL game but he never missed a Nipissing Lakers Women’s Varsity game, giving him the claim to fame of their “#1 fan”. With a pocket full of Werthers candies and/or two punches to greet you with, Butch always enjoyed being at the rink and loved running into people from his journey in the hockey world spanning 50 years in the community.
Butch leaves behind his wife of 58 years, Suzanne (née McGonigal) and his two children, Darren (Debra) and Alyson (Jeff). He was “Poppa” to his biggest sources of his pride and joy, his five grandchildren Amanda (Ryan), Devan, Kaylyn (Andrew), Gordie and Gracie and his two great-grandchildren, Colby and Amelia. Butch will be remembered by his siblings Louise Cournoyer (Romeo), Joanne Bruder (Clem), Arlene Grzela (Gaston), Robert Turcotte and Pat Turcotte. He will be reunited with his parents, Arthur and Phyllis Turcotte and his parents-in-law, Gordon and Babe McGonigal.
The family invites friends and family to join them for a Celebration of Life at the NUSU building, 221 College Drive, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Please come prepared with your best story about Butch/Mr. Turcotte/Coach.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the following organizations near and dear to their hearts: Nipissing Serenity Hospice or Noah Strong. Online condolences may be made at www.mcguintyfuneralhome.com