Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

• Status: French instructor
• Hometown: Blacksburg, Va.

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Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was so afraid of guns that she wouldn’t travel to some parts of the country, her husband, Jerzy Nowak, told USA Today.

On Monday, she was among the victims of Cho Seung-Hui’s shooting spree in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, where she was a French instructor.

“She was so happy … a wonderful mother and wife,” Nowak told the newspaper.

The couple have a teenage daughter and had recently bought a house in Blacksburg, he said.

They moved to Southwest Virginia from Nova Scotia in 2000, when Jerzy Nowak was named chairman of the Department of Horticulture at Tech.

Couture-Nowak was listed on the university Web site as teaching intermediate French this semester. She started her career at Tech teaching beginning French.

“I have a Bachelor of Education with a minor in French as a second language from St. Mary University in Nova Scotia, Canada,” Couture-Nowak wrote in a 2001 newsletter for Tech’s department of foreign languages and literatures.

“I am originally from the province of Quebec but have lived in my mother’s home province of Nova Scotia for many years. ... I have developed French second language programs for young learners in preschool settings.”

An accomplished swimmer who won several medals in the 2004 Commonwealth Games, Couture-Nowak added, “I enjoy gardening with my dear husband and exploring beautiful Virginia!”

— Cody Lowe