Walter S. Cole

Walter S. Cole, 94, of Hayesville, passed away peacefully Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in a Hendersonville care facility. He was born in Taft, Texas but called Hayesville his home. Walter served in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and ended his career at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C. He served the Air Force as a parachute rigger and took great care in ensuring the lives of pilots and paratroopers. Walter was a Vietnam Veteran from 1964 to 1965 and participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis, serving a total of 24 years until retiring. Following retirement, he worked five years for Metropolitan Life before moving back to Hayesville in 1977. Locally he worked for the United States Postal service for the next 14 years until fully retiring. Walter attended Shooting Creek Baptist Church. He had a passion for genealogy and enjoyed wood working.
He was the son of the late Walter Stephen Sr. and Mamie Jane Whitehead Cole and husband of the late Audrey Woody Cole, who died April 23, 2021. He was also preceded in death by a brother, Lester Bitsy Cole.
Surviving are two sons, Lanny Cole and wife, Susan, of Cornelius, N.C. and Larry Cole and wife, Patsy, of Etowah, N.C.; two grandchildren, Katherine Long and husband, Paul, of Huntersville, N.C. and Elizabeth Grant and husband, Ian, of Hendersonville, N.C.; four great-grandchildren, Chandler and Mattie Long and William Wesley Grant, and Emma Grant; sister-in-law, Joann Woody, and is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23 in the chapel of Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville with the Rev. Keith Nuckolls officiating. Interment will be in the Eagle Fork Baptist Church cemetery with military honors provided by Hayesville VFW Post 6812, Hayesville American Legion Post 532 and Murphy American Legion Post 96. Pallbearers are Clint, Reid, Clay and Joseph Woody, John Taylor-Baker, Seth Summey, Alan Rogers and Paul Long.
The family will receive friends from 1-2:45 p.m. at Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville prior to the service.
The family requests memorials be made in memory of Walter S. Cole to Four Seasons Hospice Foundation, 211 North Main Street, Hendersonville, N.C. 28792 or American Heart Association, 4217 Park Place Court, Glen Allen, Va. 23060-9979.
Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville: iviefuneralhome.com is in charge of all arrangements.