‘He was serving Canada’: Daughter remembers Second World War veteran Ernest Côté

WATCH: The daughter of a distinguished World War II veteran is speaking about the life her father lived.As Jacques Bourbeau reports, what Ernest Côté loved most was his country.

OTTAWA – When Ernest Côté left his job at the department of northern affairs to become Canada’s ambassador to Finland, the elevator operator told his daughter Denyse he was sad to see Côté go.

That’s because, unlike other top bureaucrats, the Second World War veteran was always up for a chat.

“He was very touched by my father, because he was the deputy minister and when he took the elevator to his office, he would always talk to him and ask him how his day was,” Denyse Côté said.

“He said not every high-ranking bureaucrat does that.

“That was dad.”

Côté, who died from natural causes at 101 years-old on Thursday, was a D-Day veteran who was in charge of logistics for the Canadian invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Watch: Veterans Affairs Minister salutes Ernest Côté

He also accompanied former veterans affairs minister Julian Fantino to France last year to help commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy.

“He was very proud about what he did,” Denyse Côté said.

“I think he still had in his heart the mission that was accomplished on D-Day. And not only on D-Day – all through the war.”

Côté is also known as the feisty centenarian who, just last December, outwitted an attacker who tied him up and who has now been charged in a historic triple homicide.

READ MORE: 101-year-old WWII vet tied up and robbed in his Ottawa apartment

Born and raised in Alberta, Côté joined the Canadian Army in 1939.

It was his first foray into a life of public service that included jobs serving prime ministers all the way back to William Lyon Mackenzie King.

“He had a notion of life that was a notion of, not only of taking, but of giving also,” said Denyse Côté.

“He looked at his career as being a career of service, I think. He was serving Canada.”

Denyse Côté, who has a sister and two brothers, said her father was kind, loving, humble and private. He didn’t talk much about his feelings – he had a stoic side – but enjoyed sharing stories about organizing during the war.

He was a “doer” who enjoyed the little things in life, and treated everyone equally.

“This was why I could have a career,” said his daughter, now a social work professor at the University of Quebec.

“Girls should have access to higher education, as boys should have.”

IN PHOTOS: 101-year-old Ernest Côté is a veteran of the Second World War

She described her father’s attitude as a “practical hope.” He kept his mind active and always challenged himself, by reading the news and analyzing every day events.

“He was not very mobile at the end of his life, but never did I hear him complain. Never.”

As for the December attack, Denyse Côté said her father was able to untie himself and call the police. He had a little trouble sleeping that night, but was back to his usual self not long after.

“We all asked him, are you ok? The same afternoon, he was drinking his sherry at 5 o’clock.”

But most of all, Côté was proud that he defended himself.

“The last thing he wants to be remembered for is for having been the victim,” she said.

“He was not a victim. Somebody victimized him, but he did not react as a victim. He was really proud of that.”