Thank You, God, for One More Day: Claudine Contois on Family, Grit, Faith, and a Life Fully Lived | Conversations with a Chiropractor Some conversations stop being content and become something closer to a keepsake. This is one of those.
In this episode of Conversations with a Chiropractor, Dr. Stephanie Wautier sits down with Claudine Contois for a conversation that moves through nearly nine decades of memory, family, hardship, humor, survival, and love. Since this interview was recorded, Claudine has passed away. Her presence is felt deeply throughout this episode, and for those who would like to read more about her life, her obituary can be found here: https://www.fassbenderswansonhansen.com/obituaries/Claudine-Ann-Contois?obId=47520137#/obituaryInfo
What makes this episode special is how fully Claudine shows up as herself. She talks about growing up in Kingsford between Italian and Swedish family roots, her deep bond with her younger brother, and the people who shaped her early life. She shares what it meant to raise four boys, leave an abusive marriage to protect them, build a second marriage that lasted more than 50 years, and create a life full of horses, snowmobiles, camping trips, card games, and unforgettable family stories.
She also speaks with unusual honesty about the final chapter of her life. After a sudden leukemia diagnosis, Claudine talks openly about fear, faith, readiness, family care, and her one simple wish, not to go alone. Even in the heaviest moments, she remains unmistakably herself: practical, funny, blunt, loving, and grateful for one more day.
This is a conversation about caregiving, resilience, marriage, mortality, and the memories that outlast everything else. It is also, now, a remembrance of a woman whose strength, humor, and warmth are all over every minute of it.
In This Episode, Discover -
Claudine's childhood in Iron Mountain and Kingsford, shaped by Italian and Swedish roots
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Her close relationship with her brother and the family stories that stayed with her
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How she left an abusive marriage and rebuilt life with four boys
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Meeting her second husband through dancing, and building a marriage that lasted decades
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Her adventurous life as a mother, from horses and camping to snowmobiles and lake memories
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Caregiving for her parents and husband, and what those years taught her
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Her sudden leukemia diagnosis and the honesty with which she faced it
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Why memory, family presence, faith, and gratitude became the center of her final season
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In Memory of Claudine Contois Read Claudine's obituary here:
https://www.fassbenderswansonhansen.com/obituaries/Claudine-Ann-Contois?obId=47520137#/obituaryInfo
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