Mildred Johnson Cole

Mildred Johnson Cole, age 88, died May 20, 2010, at DeKalb Regional Medical Center. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 22, 2010, at Wilson Funeral Home Chapel in Fort Payne with Rev. Reagin Brown and Rev. Jim Russell officiating. Burial will follow in Glenwood Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday from 4 until 7 p.m. Mrs. Cole is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Randall and Barbara Cole, Charles and Judy Cole, and Bobby and Wanda Cole; grandchildren Angela Cole Reimer (Jeramy), Jeff Cole, Lisa Cole, Stan Cole, step-grandson, Brad Bailey, and four great grandchildren. She is also survived by four sisters, Sue Cleere, Frances Deal, Alice Stroup, and Naomi Tolbert, and one brother, Doyle Johnson. She was preceded in death by her husband, Willard Cole in 1995; her parents, William C. and Willie Pearl Johnson; sister, Gladys Christian, and brothers, W.C. Johnson and Royce Johnson. Mrs. Cole grew up in the Mt. Zion community on Lookout Mountain, later moved to Portersville after she married, and then back to Lookout Mountain where her husband grew hundreds of acres of watermelons and she played hostess to the many visitors who came to enjoy his watermelons. They moved to Fort Payne in 1952. Mrs. Cole and her husband owned and operated Willard Cole Grain & Feed in south Fort Payne for many years and she later owned and operated Green’s Shoe Store in downtown Fort Payne. She was a member of First United Methodist Church, where she served as president of the United Methodist Women, a leader of the Arts and Crafts Sub-Group and was also active in many other aspects of the church in earlier years. Mrs. Cole loved flowers and gardening, and served as an officer of the Fort Payne Garden Club. She also served as a Cub Scout Den Mother. Pallbearers are Jeff Cole, Stan Cole, David Deal, Danny Cleere, Ralph Johnson, and Stanley Stroup. In lieu of flowers, the family would prefer that memorials be made to the Christian Life Center Fund, First United Methodist Church, 206 Grand Avenue NW, Fort Payne, AL 35967. Wilson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mildred Johnson Cole

October 1, 1921 - May 20, 2010