Judith Ann Cole

1937 - 2022

Judith Ann Cole (Middlemist) of Juneau, Alaska and Issaquah, Washington passed away peacefully Monday, August 8, 2022.  She was 84 years old.

Judy was born November 22, 1937 in Minneapolis Minnesota.  She grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs. The daughter of a dry cleaning manager(father) and a pickle factory worker (mother) during the late 1930s depression.  She specifically recalls the polio epidemic in the mid 1940's when she was quarantined to her home and was only able to play with 2 neighbor boys which, ironically echoes modern issues with covid.  She loved to read and excelled in school.

After receiving her teaching degree from Colorado, with an adventurous spirit, she moved to Alaska in 1961 to teach "for just 1 year". However, met our father, Nat Cole (he passed in 2017), also a teacher and went on to have two children, Susan Reed (Cole) and Tony Cole and spend most of the rest of her life in Alaska.  

She enjoyed book club, getting together with friends, quilting, crafting, plants, health food and gardening, she certainly had a green thumb.  She was an active member of Chaple by the Lake. Judy loved to walk Treadwell and Sandy Beach, hike, travel and explore new places, especially spending time in Mexico and the southwest with Nat. She volunteered at the City Museum and Kiosk with friends.

She was an amazing teacher and advocate of learning from preschool to early elementary and did receive the Southeast Alaska Association of the Educators of Young Children. She was a mentor to many teachers and always looking for ways to improve her teaching and after she retired, she volunteered in classrooms on a regular basis.

She touched many lives as a teacher, friend, church member, neighbor, wife and mother.  She would have wanted to say a personal goodbye to anyone who knew her.  She is survived by her two children Tony Cole and Sue Reed and her grandchildren Dylan Cole and Amelia and Tessa Reed. 

At her request a "Celebration of Life" gathering will be held next summer (2023) in Juneau, AK and all friends and family are invited.

In Lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Juneau Community Foundation, juneaucf.org/education/

All are invited to view photos and share memories in the family's online guest book at www.flintofts.com. Flintoft's Funeral Home 425-392-6444.