ST. TAMMANY PARISH, LA. Obituary for: WOLCOTT, CLAUDE BEHNKE, SR. Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. Source: Honaker Funeral Home, Slidell, La. Died Saturday, March 23, 2013 ======================================================================= Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml ======================================================================= WOLCOTT, CLAUDE BEHNKE, SR. March 23, 2013 ========== A photo is available for this file. Please go to http://usgwarchives.net/la/sttammany/obits/dateobits/2013/st1303.htm and click to view list of photos. ========== Claude Behnke Wolcott, Sr., passed away on March 23, 2013, from complications following lung surgery. He is preceded in death by three brothers, George A. Walcott, Jack Walcott, Charles Wolcott, and one sister, Jane Wolcott Smith. He is survived by his wife, Annie Louise Mire Wolcott; one brother, Mack Wolcott, and two sisters, Launa Smith and Margaret Elander; four children, Claude B. (Bo) Wolcott, Jr.(Susan), Timothy Gus Wolcott, Iola Ann Joyce Wolcott Badon(Tim), and Jane Elizabeth Wolcott; and seven grandchildren, Travis Badon, Laura Wolcott Cordon, Matthew Simon, Claude B. (Ben) Wolcott, III, Annie Simon, Hank Badon, and Madison Wolcott. A lifelong Slidell resident, Behnke Wolcott was born on April 21, 1928. He graduated from Slidell High School in 1945. While at Slidell High School, he was an outstanding athlete. He played halfback on the football team that won the city’s first High School Football State Championship and was captain of the basketball team. He obtained a B.A. in Education from University of Minnesota and an M.A. in Education from Louisiana State University. Mr. Wolcott is a veteran of both the Navy and Air Force. He joined the Navy during World War II. During the Korean War, he served in the Air Force and spent 1 ½ years in Korea as a radio operator. Mr. Wolcott was the first principal of what is now Salmen High School. When Mr. Wolcott took over as principal, Salmen was a junior high school located in Old Town Slidell in the building that is now City Hall. During his tenure, Mr. Wolcott guided the expansion of Salmen by several grade levels and its movement to a new building in its current locale near Lake Pontchartrain. By the time he retired in 1983, Salmen had expanded to essentially its size today, a high school with grades 9-12. After his retirement from Salmen High, he later took over as principal of St. Margaret Mary School. He was principal there from 1989 – 1991. During his retirement from education, he became a licensed real estate agent in the Slidell area. During his retirement, he also worked for a time with handicapped adults, assisting them as they worked in normal jobs around the city. Behnke Wolcott was a proud Slidellian with extended family and roots in Slidell and an abundance of friends, many of them dating back to childhood. He could be spotted almost daily walking through his Brugier neighborhood sporting an old familiar blue hat. During his walks he would almost always stop in on family and friends for visits along the way. Behnke Wolcott married his childhood friend and sweetheart, Annie Louise Mire Wolcott, who is also a native Slidellian with deep roots in the city. Married on March 10, 1951, “Annie and Behnke” were married for over 62 years at the time of his passing. Funeral Services will be held at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 1050 Robert Blvd, Slidell, on Wednesday March 27, 2013 at 12:00 o’clock noon. Visitation at the church will be from 10 am until service time. Interment in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Masses preferred. ===================