Josette Dupont-Dubois died on Sunday, December 27, 2015, at her sisters home in Maryland.
Josette Dupont-Dubois was, the greatest woman that her children ever knew. After 30 years as an educator, she will be greatly missed and forever loved. The title of the song "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die" describes the impact that Ms. Dubois, our mom, had on her family, her friends, her students and her community.
Josette Dupont-Dubois, daughter of Antoine Dupont and Marie Annie Neptune, was born on March 7, 1953 in Port-au- Prince, Haiti. In 1966, she joined her mother in Boston, and enrolled in the French Congregational School Notre Dame de Pitié, which was located in Cambridge, MA.
She furthered her education, earning a Bachelor of Arts in French Language, Literature and Linguistics/Education, at Boston University. Through a program offered at Institute of European Studies, she spent a year studying at the Sorbone in Paris, France. In subsequent years, she solidified her professional career by completing an intensive summer at Indiana University Creole Institute and completing a Master’s Degree at Cambridge College.
After graduating from Boston University, Mrs. Dupont-Dubois married her high school sweetheart Dr. Wilfrid Dubois and gave birth to three children: Dominique, the oldest, holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University in New York; Steven, the older son has a Master of Architecture from Northeastern University in Boston; Robert, the youngest just completed is Bachelor of Science in Business Management at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Josette believed her greatest accomplishment is having raised her children to be responsible adults and engaged citizens.
Ms. Dubois began her career teaching French at Lexington High School. After brief stints at the Murphy Elementary School, Waltham High School and the Kennedy Elementary School in Brockton, she joined the faculty at Brockton High School and remained there until her death. Teaching was her vocation and a means of serving the Haitian community. She was a dedicated and encouraging teacher, attentive to the needs of students for whom she set very high expectations. She also believed that the best advice she could give to students, was to take time to cultivate a close relationship with God, to befriend responsible role models, to know their history, to be proud of their heritage and to be engaged citizens. Her teaching went above and beyond the classroom as she advised many afterschool clubs including the Haitian, West Indian, International and French clubs. She also enjoyed taking students on cultural trips around the Boston area and even Europe.
Ms. Dubois was active in numerous organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.) where she served as the Brockton Chapter Chair in 1997 and 1999 and was a coordinator for the ACT-SO competition and a member of the MLK Breakfast committee. She received recognitions for her support to the community from various groups including but not limited to Citizens Concerned about Education, South Shore Haitians United for Progress (SHUP), the National Honor Society and the Haitian General Consulate. Those awards include the Althea Lindsey Teacher of the Year Award in 2004, the Commitment and Support Award in 2013 from SHUP, Inspirational Teacher Certificate of Special Recognition, and the Services in Haitian Community and Education System Award.
Josette Dupont-Dubois is preceded in death by her father Antoine Dupont and mother Marie Anie Neptune and her aunt Ersula Regis. She is survived by her three children, Dominique Dupont-Dubois, Steven Alexander Dubois, and Robert Anthony Dubois, along with their father, Dr. Wilfrid Dubois. She leaves behind her siblings, Jean Ernst Dupont, Maud Blass, Rosemarie Leblanc, Carline Bruno-Joseph, Antonio Bruno, Nancy Lebeau, Lionel Scutt, Clina Eugene, Derla Scutt-Emmanuel, and Vladimir Dupont and their spouses; a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, god-children, grandnieces and grandnephews.
With sincere condolences to the families Dubois, Dupont, Neptune, Campbell, Blass, Leblanc, Bruno, Joseph, Lebeau, Scutt, Eugene, Emmanuel, Pierre, Angrand, Lubin, Regis, Calvin, St. Paul, Bernier, Zephyr, Coulanges, Mirand, Mondesir, Belancourt, Faustin, Dugue, Brannon, Jellerette, Coburn, Corrielus, Beucler, Antoine, Charlotin, Pierre-Louis, Limontas, Boyle, Bisserette, Auguste, Mombrun, Chambers, Caprice.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend visiting hours on Friday January 8 from 7-9PM at the Joseph Russo Funeral Home, 814 American Legion Highway, Roslindale.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend her funeral on Saturday at 10 AM at St. Paul AME Church, 37 Bishop Richard Allen Drive, Cambridge.
Followed by burial at Forest Hills Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Josette's memory to the charity of one's choice.