Corinne Conte, wife of longtime congressman, dies at 87

"Corinne was treasured throughout the Berkshires for her warm, down-to-earth spirit and her extraordinary kindness to so many people in the community," US Senator Edward M. Kennedy said today in a statement. "Her husband, Sil, and I worked closely together, and I always admired the extraordinary dedication of them both to the people of Western Massachusetts on countless issues, especially education and the preservation of the magnificent heritage of the Berkshires. I fondly remember the dedication of the Silvio O. Conte National Archives when she welcomed me to Pittsfield, and I saw again how beloved she was by her community. The Conte family is in my prayers, and I know she will be deeply missed."

During her husband's years in the US House of Representatives, Mrs. Conte took an active role in his campaigns, even as she became a successful real estate broker in Washington and in Bethesda, Md., where the family lived while Congress was in session.

The Contes had a listed phone number for their Pittsfield home and Mrs. Conte often fielded calls from constituents, following up on requests with the acumen of a Washington staff member. When campaign time arrived, she crisscrossed the district, putting in 10-hour days greeting voters.

She was so well-known that when her husband died in February 1991, all potential successors waited anxiously while Mrs. Conte mulled whether to seek his office to finish his 17th term.

"Let me tell you, she was out campaigning shoulder to shoulder with Silvio," the late J. Joseph Moakley, the South Boston Democrat who served in the US House with Conte, told the Globe as she contemplated launching a campaign. "And she is familiar with the issues."

But Mrs. Conte decided against running and issued a statement that said: "While I believe I could well serve in the Sil Conte tradition, it would be too difficult for me to carry on his legacy in this time of personal grief."

A year apart in age, Silvio and Corinne Conte grew up in Pittsfield, but didn't get to know each other until after each finished Pittsfield High School.

"She was French and he was Italian, and he lived in the Italian section of town," their daughter said.

Corinne Louise Duval was the older of two daughters and swam well enough to win a New England championship in the breast stroke at 13 before a serious ear infection curtailed her swimming career.

Graduating from high school and a nursing school in Pittsfield, she served as a Navy nurse during World War II and met Silvio Conte, a Seabee who was being treated for an illness. They married on Nov. 8, 1947.

Early in the marriage, Mrs. Conte's husband served in the state Senate, commuting home to Pittsfield on weekends. She juggled work as a private duty nurse and raising their children. When he was elected to the US House, the Contes moved to Bethesda, and in the mid-1960s she got a license to sell real estate.

A successful broker, she also was credited with helping guide the family's financial course in amassing substantial real estate holdings.

But it was the unpretentious side of Mrs. Conte that struck many who met her through her husband.

"People just were drawn to her," her daughter said. "We always had friends at the house, and relatives. We had a lot of dinner parties, family gatherings, and she entertained ambassadors. The Russian delegation once came and was nonplused that we had a very humble home in Washington where she would cook everything."

The family raised Brittany spaniels and "one Christmas she transported 17 puppies by herself in the station wagon," her daughter said. "She brought them up to our cottage in Pittsfield and had them under the Christmas tree in the whelping box."

Sometimes the Contes drew guests into the puppy process, as was the case when Silvio and Corinne were entertaining their friends Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., the Cambridge Democrat and former House speaker, and his wife, Millie.

"They'd come for dinner, they always had Ben and Jerry's for dessert, and then they all played cards," Webb said. "One night, puppies were born, and so Tip and Millie stayed on and helped deliver the puppies."

After her husband died, Mrs. Conte supervised the work of preparing his papers to be donated to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and spoke in an April 1992 interview about how she had suggested where his records should reside.

"He thought they should go to Boston College," she told the Globe. "He really loved BC. I said to Sil, 'You have your own district and your people. You have to go with your own.' He said, 'I know you're right.' "

In addition to her daughter Michelle, Mrs. Conte leaves two other daughters, Sylvia Certo of Mill Valley, Calif., and Gayle Conte-Fowler of Orosi, Costa Rica; a son, John of West Simsbury, Conn.; a sister, Kathleen Tournier of Pittsfield; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Joseph Church in Pittsfield. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Pittsfield.