Oscar Jackson Cole Sr.

GREENSBORO — Oscar Jackson Cole, Sr., 91, of High Point's Florence School Community, died on Friday, August 1, 2008, at the Hospice Home at High Point.

His homegoing celebration will be held 4 p.m. Wednesday, August 6, at Turners Chapel A.M.E. Church, 7615 Florence School Road, High Point, N.C., with the Masonic Rites at 3:30 p.m.

Mr. Cole was the husband of the late Rebecca Ingram Cole and the last survivor of the 14 children of the late Roy C. Cole and Leiser Raper Cole. Oscar was educated in the public schools of Guilford County and was a life-long resident of the Florence School and Deep River communities, except for a nearly three-year period during the Second World War, when he was employed in Baltimore, Md., at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, where he achieved status as a first- class welder. After returning to North Carolina, Oscar was employed in Jamestown at the predecessors of the current Flowers Baking Company and retired from Flowers after more than 30 years of service, much of which was spent as a tractor-trailer driver and a shipping clerk. Oscar was a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite Consistory, and a long-serving Worshipful Master of Florence Memorial Lodge Number 719. A member of Turner's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, he served for many years as a trustee and chair of the church's building fund committee.

Mr. Cole was preceded in death by his daughter, Carrie E. Cole.

He is survived by his two sons, Dr. O. Jackson Cole (Jacqueline) and Terrell K. Cole (Monet); three granddaughters, Dr. Angela P. Cole, Lisa J. Cole Queen (Troy), and Nia K. Cole; a grandson, Martin C. J. Cole; a step-granddaughter, Nichole Baker; five sisters-in-law, Frances Cole, Myra Cole, Lois Harris (John), Alice Griffin (Ernie), Barbara Raleigh (James); a brother-in-law, Jacob Ingram; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Family visitation will begin at 3 p.m.

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