Katherine Hogle Cole

Katharine Hogle Cole 1911 ~ 2004  A family memorial gathering is planned this weekend to commemorate the life of former Salt Lake resident Mary Katharine Hogle McTernan Cole (92) a humanitarian and social activist who died in Tiburon, California on May 6th. Born June 5, 1911 in Salt Lake City to James A. Hogle and Mary Copley Hogle, Kay was a graduate of Rowland Hall School for Girls, Salt Lake City and the Bishops School, La Jolla, California. Kay received her B.A. Degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She was in the first graduating class from that school and studied there under the noted author Max Lerner. She received her Masters Degree in Social Sciences from Columbia University, New York City. Kay served as an intern with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington D.C. and was a teacher of Economics and Social Science at the University of California, Berkley and the California Labor School. She also worked for some years as an assistant to Harry Bridges of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (lL WU). Kay married John Tripp McTernan July 19, 1939 in Salt Lake City, later divorced. In 1956 she married screenwriter Lester Cole, one of the original "Hollywood Ten" blacklisted and jailed for refusing to answer questions about their political beliefs before the House of un-American Activities Committee in the 1940 s. They later separated. Enlisted in the cause of peace as a young child, Kay was a longtime member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom co-founded by her mother and Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams. She dedicated much of her life to the goals of that organization - including the eradication of racism, sexism, cIassism and poverty. She was a generous and vocal campaigner for numerous causes. A lifelong interest in Native Americans led to her continued and vocal advocacy of the American Indian Movement and her close friendship with AIM founder Dennis Banks. Kay was a sensitive and caring person. Her abhorrence of the suffering of others was the distinguishing feature of her character. As a child in Salt Lake City she once watched in horror as a drayman whipped a horse pulling an ice wagon up a steep Avenues street. She chased the wagon and ripped the whip from the drayman's hand. She was only 9 at the time but it was altogether typical of her impulse to "do something" when faced with cruelty or inhumanity. Her concern for the welfare of animals was in part responsible for her parents' donation of the land for Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoological Gardens. Hogle Zoo remained an important interest throughout her life. She is survived by daughters Kathleen McTernan of San Anselmo, CA; Deborah C. McTernan of Santa Cruz, CA; brother George H. Hogle MD of Woodside, CA; granddaughter Jollie Jacobs and great-grandson Nio Jacobs, both of San Anselmo, CA. She was preceded in death by her brother James E. Hogle of Salt Lake City. The family requests that donations be sent in Kay's memory to The Jane Addams Peace Association, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017; the La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley CA 94705; or to Utah's Hogle Zoo, 2600 East Sunnyside Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108.