Dr. Elbert C. Cole Jr.

DR. ELBERT C. COLE, JR. Dr. Elbert C. Cole, Jr., 92, of Kansas City, MO entered life eternal on April 28, 2010. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Monday, May 3, at Central United Methodist Church, 5144 Oak Street, Kansas City; inurnment in Valhalla Cemetery, St. Louis. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to a charity of your choice representing your relationship to Dr. Cole. Dr. Cole, a United Methodist minster for 49 years, served the church in military, academic, rural, urban and industrial settings. He married Virginia Hope Watson on September 3, 1939. After receiving a Bachelor Degree from Central Methodist College in the same year and his Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago in 1942, Dr. Cole joined the U.S. Navy to serve as a Chaplain. In the Navy he achieved the rank of Commander while serving on the U.S.S. Saratoga during World War II. Following his military service he was the Senior Pastor to churches in Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana, fulfilling the last 23 years of his career as Senior Pastor at Central United Methodist Church in Kansas City. In 1965 received his Doctorate of Theology from the Illif School of Theology at the University of Denver. In 1993 Virginia passed away, and Dr. Cole married Ruthellen Bennett Thomas in 2006. Dr. Cole founded the Shepherd’s Centers of America, an interfaith, non-profit organization that encouraged elder involvement in the community. It originated in a church basement in Kansas City. His leadership, with and for older adults, has resulted in a national interfaith movement encompassing over 53 individual Shepherd’s Centers in 16 states, comprising a network of 15,000 older adult volunteers serving 100,000 people in 2500 community-based congregations. The Shepherd’s Centers of America Board has established the Elbert C. Cole Fund to sustain and grow the organization. Dr. Cole was preceded in death by his parents Elbert Sr. and Theresa Cole; sisters Norma (Ben) Smith and Nina (Harold) Roberts; wife Virginia Hope Watson Cole; and son Christopher Jackson Cole. He is survived by his wife Ruthellen Bennett Thomas Cole; brother Gene (June) Cole; daughter Carolyn Hope (Robert) Williams Jr.; daughters-in-law Cathy Cole and Marsha Oviatt Cole; Ruthellen’s daughters Mimi (John) Eckels and Marjorie (Douglas) Pickering and their families; grandchildren Robert Williams III, Caroline Hope (Drew) Goddard, and Emily Theresa (Nicholas) Cole; and many nieces, nephews, and friends. Fond memories and condolences for the family may be left at www.dwnewcomers.com (Arr: D.W. Newcomer's Sons Stine & McClure Chapel, 3235 Gillham Plaza, KCMO 64109, 816-931-7777)