Memorial
Donna Marilyn Cole, 85, died Monday, March 23, 2015 in Northfield, Minnesota following an extended illness.
A celebration of life will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 25, 2015 at the Lovely Lane United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids, officiated by Rev. Paul Wilcox. Inurnment will take place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery in the Garden of Tranquility. Friends may call from 10:00 until 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning at the church.
Donna was born December 29, 1929 in LuVerne, Iowa to Jesse Lee Fisher and Hazel David Fisher. She attended schools in Iowa and graduated from Traer High School in 1947. She attended Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois and Northwestern University, where she graduated in 1951. On September 7, 1949, in Evanston, Illinois, she was married to J. Preston Cole from Troy, Missouri, a student at Garrett Seminary.
Her early career was in social casework for the Cook County Department of Welfare, Chicago, Illinois and the Dane County Department of Welfare, Madison, Wisconsin. She was also involved in her husband’s college chaplaincy at Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin, and Iowa State Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls, Iowa. From 1957 to 1959 they served a Methodist church in Monroe, New York, while Preston completed his doctoral studies. From 1960 to 1965, Preston was the Methodist Chaplain at the University of Chicago, and Donna did graduate studies at Roosevelt University in the field of education.
When Preston began teaching religion at Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, she began teaching elementary school and continued doing so as the family moved to Evanston, Illinois, Forest Grove, Oregon, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She finished a master’s degree in Special Education at the University of Iowa in 1978, and worked as a Learning Disabilities teacher in the Cedar Rapids schools from 1978 to 1990. Preston came to Coe College in 1976 as Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, until 1985. He continued as Professor of Reliion until 1992.
After retirement Donna took up writing and Preston took up watercolors. They enjoyed ballroom dancing, travel, plays, the Cedar Rapids Symphony, Elderhostels in many states and countries, the Coe Forum and other Coe activities. At various times, she had been active in AAUW, League of Women Voters, Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, Phi Delta Kappa, several creative writing and book groups, Iowa Poetry Association, Midwest Chaparral Poets, numerous writing workshops, Congenial Hundred, and the U.S. Association of Ballroom Dancers. Her love of reading and writing, gardening, homemaking, and especially her family had always sustained her. She published a book of poetry, Inside Out, and a personal memoir, Beginnings.
She is survived by two sons, David Cole, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Vanderbilt University and wife, Nancy; Eric Cole, Professor of Developmental Biology at St. Olaf College and wife, Kate; four grandchildren: Bryan & Meghan, Atia & Liana; great-grandchildren “Hazel Jane” and another, soon to be; and nephews and their wives Larry and Paulette Wood of Des Moines, and Don and Barbara Wood of Cedar Falls.
Donna was preceded in death by her husband, Preston; her parents; her step-father Samuel M. Beatty; step-brother Samuel T. Beatty; sisters: Dorothy and Mildred; step-sister Maxine Wilson; and sisters-in-law Marion Beatty, Florence Schoonover, and Louise Cole.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Coe College for the Pres and Donna Memorial Fund, care of David Cole, 1729 Wildlife Trail, Kingston Springs, Tennessee 37082.