Jeffrey Lee Cole, formerly of Greenwood, died peacefully at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. He was 89 years old. He was visited frequently by friends and family until he finally slipped away after a brief fight with cancer. He professed his firm belief in his savior Jesus Christ and is now with his Lord in paradise.
Jeff Cole was born in Tupelo on Jan. 20, 1929. He was raised in Tupelo until he attended Ole Miss, an institution he loved all his life. After Ole Miss, he farmed for 25 years at Moore’s Lake Plantation in Schlater.
He was a lay reader and vestry member of Greenwood’s Episcopal Church of the Nativity, where he was involved in the church’s prison ministry. He and his wife, Dottie Cole, were among the first members of the South End Zone at Ole Miss, where they enjoyed countless football games until his health prevented him from attending. He was a founding member of the Roadrunners, a dance club at the Greenwood Country Club. He was an avid golfer and tennis player and a member of the Greenwood Supper Club.
Jeff returned to Ole Miss later in life to study art and became a prolific painter. Dozens of his paintings are hanging in numerous houses throughout Jackson and Greenwood. Besides farming, he had a rich and varied career involving numerous jobs, including working for Viking Range and delivering the Northside Sun in his retirement.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Tucker Cole; his children, Lee Cole of Atlanta, Lynn Cole Berman of Greenwood, Libba Cole Shrader of Columbia, South Carolina, and Clay Cole Lapasota of Portsmouth, Virginia; his grandchildren, Taylor Berman of New York, Collin Cole of Atlanta, Betsy Shrader Watts of Charleston, South Carolina, Matt Shrader of Columbia, South Carolina, and Satchel Lapasota of Portsmouth; and a great-grandchild, Lyon Raymond Watts of Charleston, South Carolina. He is also survived by his stepchildren Terrell and Donna Knight of Jackson and their children, Curt, Connell and Lucy Tucker Roberts (David) of Hattiesburg, and their grandchild, Katherine Adelle Roberts of Hattiesburg. Also, stepchildren Virginia (Ginny) Knight and John Wyatt Emmerich of Jackson and their children, John, Lawrence and Ruth.
There will be a service on Friday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m. at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Jackson. The Rev. CJ Meaders will officiate. Family and friends will gather afterward.
Jeff’’s body has been donated to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for research. His ashes will be interred at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity columbarium in Greenwood.