Charles Frederick Cole

Charles Frederick Cole, age 92, of Greenacres, FL, and formerly of Murphy, NC, and Uniontown, OH, passed away on January 3, 2022, at Palm Beach Gardens Hospice and Palliative Care Center.

“Charlie”, “Chuck”“Buddy” was a man who was a strong, hard working, stubborn, adventurous, caring, loving, protective husband and father.  He loved God and loved all of us by finding ways to help and serve in so many ways. He was the “Charlie” of many trades which gave him the experience needed to do electrical, plumbing, carpentry, tile work, mechanical (cars, planes, buses), auto body repair and painting, business management, sales, church maintenance, fiberoptic line work, construction, electronics, sound engineer, and everything in between.  If he didn’t know how to do something, he asked others or researched it so he could learn how. He had over 12,000 hours flying either his 4-seater Bonanza or other planes, cruised around mountains on his Harley Davidson, boated or dived Lake Erie, lakes in NC, and the waters of South Florida, and enjoyed driving the nicest or unique cars whether it be a Corvette, Mercedes, Cadillac, Lincoln, T-Bucket, Dodge Ram with a Hemi, or his Durango. He spent many years working in sales and  management for Nickles and Holsum Bakeries which included driving the bread trucks, and he drove a custom bus (that he remodeled) for the gospel group, The Singing Hunts, for a few years.

He was born in Isabella, TN, to Alvin and Madie Belle Cole, and had one sister, Jane Hawkins (Ray), and four brothers, Floyd Cole (Janet), James Edwin Cole (Willijean), Leroy Cole (Mary), and Ben Cole, all who are deceased except for brother and sister-in-law (James Edwin, Willijean), and sister-in-law (Janet).

A loving and devoted son, husband, father, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, and great great grandfather, Charles is survived by his wife, Kathleen of 43 years, his son Larry Cole (Donna) of Solon, OH, daughters Susan Mitchell (Charlie) of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Robin Stark (Chuck) of Riviera Beach, FL, and Bonnie Higley (Clint) of Dushore, PA, 20 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren, and 2 great great grandchildren.  He joined many loved ones when his residency was transferred to heaven including Eleanor Hazel Cole, his first wife who he was married to for 29 years and passed in 1978, his oldest daughter and son-in-law, Patsy Wagner (Ed), who passed in 2020 (2019), and daughter-in-law, Chris Cole, who passed in 2008. No matter how you came to the Cole family, you became family to Charles.

Charles was blessed to have many in-laws from both of his marriages.  From his marriage to Eleanor Hazel Cole, he is survived by Iva McParlane, Shirley Kee, Marcy (Gerald) Monter, Judy (James) Jennings, and John (Victoria) Kee.  From his marriage to Kathleen Rose Cole, he is survived by Jack Rose, Forest (Linda) Rose, and Bonnie (David) Ibsen.

A celebration of life will be held at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 1901 Barbados Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33406 on Friday, January 7, 2022, at 10:00 am.  In lieu of flowers, please send a check to Emmanuel Baptist Church in memory of Charles Cole towards their sound system.  He served the past four years running the sound for Emmanuel Baptist Church and was in the middle of updating the system for the church, so let’s help complete this system upgrade in his memory.

He will be laid to rest at Royal Palm Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens in West Palm Beach, FL during a private graveside ceremony. Please sign the guest book at www.edgleycremationservices.com.