Memorial
J. Preston Cole, 88, of Cedar Rapids, passed away on Tuesday, May 06, 2014 at The Woodlands of Meth-Wick Community. Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2014 at 11:00 AM at Lovely Lane United Methodist Church. A private inurnment will be held at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery. Entrusted with the arrangements is Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be directed to the J. Preston Cole Faculty Development Fund, Coe College Development Office: 1220 1st Avenue Northeast, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402.
Preston was born June 29, 1925 in Shawnee, Oklahoma to J. Preston Sr. and Elizabeth Eckle Cole, where his father was the minister of the Methodist Church. He attended school in several small towns in Oklahoma before his family moved back to Missouri, his parents’ home state. He attended junior high and high school in Liberty, Missouri. There he wrote for the school paper, played trombone in the marching band and orchestra, was a member of the Honor Society, and attained the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts of America. His family moved to Portageville, in southeast Missouri, during his junior year. There he continued his school activities, including participation in the Glee Club and a Male Sextet. He was vice-president of his senior class and salutatorian when he graduated in 1943.
Preston continued his education at Central Methodist College, in Fayette, Missouri, from January 1943 to September 1944. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944. He served in the 2nd Army Headquarters until he received an Honorable Discharge in 1946. He returned to college on the G.I. Bill, graduating from Northwestern University in 1948 with a B.S. in Chemistry. On September 7, 1949 he and Donna Marilyn Fisher of Traer, Iowa were married in Evanston, Illinois. He attended Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Illinois from which he graduated with a B.D. in 1952.
His early career was in the college chaplaincy. He served as the Associate Methodist Chaplain at the University of Wisconsin, 1952-54. From 1954-57 he was the Methodist Chaplain at Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) in Waterloo, where their two sons, David Alan and Eric Stephen, were born. He then did graduate studies in Theology and Culture at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, receiving a Ph.D. in 1964. From 1957-59 he served a church in Monroe, New York, while completing his doctoral studies. 1960-65 he was the Methodist Chaplain at the University of Chicago. In 1965 he began his college teaching career. He taught at Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pennsylvania (1965-70); was Dean and Professor of Religion at Kendall College, Evanston, Illinois (1970-72); Dean and Professor of Religion at Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon (1972-76); and Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Religion at Coe College (1976-85); concluding his career as Professor of Religion at Coe College (1985-92), retiring in 1992. In 1995 he took up painting as a career in retirement.
He is survived by his wife, Donna; two sons, David (Professor of Clinical Psychology at Vanderbilt University) and his wife Nancy; Eric (Professor of Developmental Biology at St. Olaf College) and his wife, Kate; four grandchildren, Bryan, Meghan, Atia, and Liana; and one great-grandchild to be, Hazel Jane Cohen; his sister-in-law, Mildred Wood of Cedar Falls, Iowa; his sister-in-law, Louise Cole of Ogden, Utah; and several nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Florence Schoonover and his brother, Walter Cole.