J. Cole

J. PRESTON COLE

Cedar Rapids

J. Preston Cole, 88, of Cedar Rapids, passed away Tuesday, May 6, 2014, at The Woodlands/The Meth-Wick Community. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10, at Lovely Lane United Methodist Church. A private inurn-ment will be held at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery. Entrusted with the arrangements is Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to the J. Preston Cole Faculty Development Fund, Coe College Development Office, 1220 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.cedarmemorial.com under "Obituaries."

Preston was born June 29, 1925, to J. Preston Sr. and Elizabeth Eckle Cole in Shawnee, Okla., where his father was minister of the Methodist church. He attended school in several small towns in Oklahoma before his family moved back to Missouri, his parents' home state. He attended junior high and high school in Liberty, Mo. There he wrote for the school paper, played trombone in the marching band and orchestra, was a member of the Honor Society and attained the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts of America. His family moved to Portageville in southeast Missouri during his junior year. There he continued his school activities, in-cluding participation in the Glee Club and a male sextet. He was vice president of his senior class and salutatorian when he graduated in 1943.

Preston continued his education at Central Methodist College in Fayette, Mo., from January 1943 to September 1944. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944. He served in the 2nd Army Headquarters until he received an honorable discharge in 1946. He returned to college on the GI Bill, graduating from Northwestern University in 1948, with a B.S. in chemistry. On Sept. 7, 1949, he and Donna Marilyn Fisher of Traer, Iowa, were married in Evanston, Ill. He attended Garrett Seminary in Evanston, Ill., from which he graduated with a B.D. in 1952.

His early career was in the college chaplaincy. He served as associate Methodist chaplain at the University of Wisconsin, 1952-54. From 1954-57, he was the Methodist chaplain at Iowa State Teachers College (UNI) in Cedar Falls, where their two sons, David Alan and Eric Stephen, were born. He then did graduate studies in theology and culture at Drew University, Madison, N.J., receiving a Ph.D. in 1964. From 1957-59, he served a church in Monroe, N.Y., while completing his doctoral studies. From 1960-65, he was Methodist Chaplain at the University of Chicago. In 1965, he began his college teaching career. He taught at Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pa. (1965-70); was dean and professor of religion at Kendall College, Evanston, Ill. (1970-72); dean and professor of religion at Pacific University, Forest Grove, Ore. (1972-76); and vice president for academic affairs and professor of religion at Coe College (1976-85), concluding his career as professor of religion at Coe College (1985-92), retiring in 1992. In 1995, he took up painting as a career in retirement.

He is survived by his wife, Donna; two sons, David (professor of clinical psychology at Vanderbilt University) and his wife, Nancy; and Eric (professor of developmental biology at St. Olaf College) and his wife, Kate; four grandchildren, Bryan, Meghan, Atia and Liana; one great-grandchild-to-be, Hazel Jane Cohen; his sister-in-law, Mildred Wood of Cedar Falls; his sister-in-law, Louise Cole of Ogden, Utah; and several nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Florence Schoonover; and his brother, Walter Cole.