Barbara Cole

Barbara Kelley Bolton Cole. A daughter, the third in a family of five; a sister; a friend; a wife; a mother of EIGHT; an aunt; a grandmother and a great grandmother. She was a writer; had a great sense of humor; boarded a bus and went off to the University of New Mexico by herself; worked for a neurosurgeon; a medical transcriber; she was spiritual and a woman of great faith. She was a leader (she had to be to raise eight children); a volunteer; always the advocate, received an award for her work as a CASA volunteer; organizer of the group at the Evans Valley/Wimer Grange that fed the fireman during the big forest fire; Art Museum and Reading Buddy volunteer; a crusader; a trail blazer; OSU housemother; she loved to talk politics and be in the know regarding current events. She traveled to the Caribbean Islands with Julie, the East Coast to visit Nancy, Jane and Julie, and a few other states - Arizona, Texas, Nevada and back to California to visit family .... went to Ireland with her friend Mary and her most memorable trip was to China to visit Bob and Carrie. She walked on "The Great Wall", cherished her album and wore the t shirt proudly. She was a cook, she could feed a family of 10 with two pounds of hamburger and a few potatoes (think "old country” scrambled hamburger or shepherd’s pie) and the Waldorf Red Velvet Cake which she sometimes made green and baked in a Christmas Tree pan and lemon meringue pie to mention a few of my favorites. I have never met anyone that could iron like her. Seriously! She was a seamstress, very artistic, had beautiful blue eyes and that hair, so thick and a beautiful white as she aged.

If I had to describe mom in one word it would be RESILIENT. That is the quality she had that I remember most and the gift she gave to me, hopefully to all of us.

"Pull up your tights and light your torch" was something her mother said. Apparently, resiliency is in our genes.

No matter what the situation or the circumstances she forged ahead, ever eager for what came next. Surely, it would be something great. And that it was. She endured to the end, “the last leaf clinging to the branch”.

We love you Mom and we miss you. We will carry on.

Carolyn, Eileen, Nancy, Sally, John, Jane, Julie and Bob