Rhea Côté Robbins was brought up bilingually in a Franco-American neighborhood in Waterville, Maine known as 'down the Plains.' She attended Waterville High School and graduated in 1971. Her maman came from Wallagrass, a town in the northern part of the state and her father was from Waterville. Tracing the family tree back, on both sides of her parents, she found that in Québec their people settled in close proximity to each other, and on a further search into their origins in France, she discovered that in the 1600s they lived within ten miles or less of each other. At least three of the branches of the original settlers came over on the same boat to New France. She has spent many years researching the origins and visiting the hometowns of these people in Canada and France.

She attended the University of Maine at Presque Isle, 1980-1982, graduating with an A.A. degree with a concentration in Art. In 1982-85, she attended the University of Maine on a bilingual education scholarship. This was in part funded by a federal grant in recognition of the Franco-American population which exists in the State of Maine. After teaching public high school briefly, she worked as editor of an international, bilingual socio-cultural journal entitled, Le FORUM, formerly known as Le F.A.R.O.G. Forum, at the Franco-American Center from 1986-96. She received her Master of Arts degree from the University of Maine in May, 1997. She received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2004.

Through her work and studies, she has had the luxury and opportunity to spend much time contemplating what does it mean to be Franco-American and female in the U.S. She has made contact with many people across the country who are also interested in this cultural group. She traveled to Louisiana to compare the progression of the culture within a different milieu. She has also traveled to Canada and France to visit the hometowns from where her ancestors emigrated. She is a founder and Executive Director of the Franco-American Women's Institute which is an organization to promote awareness about the contributions of the Franco-American women to the culture, their families and the communities they live in. In addition, she has worked in the Maine prison system with women prisoners and created a writing group with the women. She currently teaches creative nonfiction, literature and Franco-American women's experiences at the University of Maine.

Côté Robbins was the 1997 winner of the Maine Chapbook Award for her work of creative nonfiction entitled, Wednesday's Child. The book, taught in university courses such as social work, culture, literature, writing, and women's studies is in its fourth printing. She is currently editing a book of translations of Franco-American women writers who were writing in the early part of this century. Several translators are also involved in this project. She is also interested in developing a literary criticism on these early women writers in the Franco-American literary tradition as well as Grace de Repentigny Metalious, author of Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place, The Tight White Collar and No Adam In Eden. These books were written by Metalious on the Franco-American women's experiences in New England. Côté Robbins has written a sequel to Wednesday's Child, called 'down the Plains' for which she is seeking publication.