Obituary of Richard Cole

Richard James Jackson Cole passed away at Riverside Health Complex, Turtleford, Saskatchewan, on Sunday, August 23, 2020 at the age of 90 years.

Richard leaves to mourn his passing: his wife, Lucy Cole, daughters, Brenda Cole and Gail (Lane) Therres; grandchildren, Chad (Casie) Therres and Jodi Therres; great-grandchildren, Jackson Therres; mother-in-law, Betty Holmes; brother, Alan (Anne) Jones; sisters-in-law, Moira Lindsey, Grace Rasmussen, and Rose Robb; brothers-in-law, Albert (Charlotte) O'Hare, Tom O'Hare (Pat Taylor), and Hugh O'Hare (Shannon Montgomery); and numerous nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. 

He is predeceased by: his parents, Tom (Laura) Jackson and Andrew (Elizabeth) Cole; brothers, Oliver (Kate) Cole, Donnie Lindsey, and Delbert Rasmussen; brother-in-law, Gordon Robb; and step-father-in-law, George Holmes. 

The Graveside Service for Richard will be conducted from Livelong Cemetery, Livelong, Saskatchewan on Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 2:00 pm. The family asks that people abide by physical distancing requirements, as per the Saskatchewan Health Authority. 

Donations in memory of Richard may be made to Riverside Resident's Council Fund.

Richard's memorial card can be viewed or downloaded from the link below.

https://indd.adobe.com/view/5b092ec9-d109-4c66-9387-93732402001e

Eulogy ~

Richard James Jackson Cole was born on July 15^th 1930 at Keppel Sk.  Second son of Tom and Laura Jackson.

Grandpa lived the first eight years of his life at Keppel with his Mom, Dad and brothers Oliver and Donnie, then with his Uncle Claire. After losing their dad, Donnie was adopted and lived his life in Scotland and Grandpa and Oliver were adopted by Andrew and Elizabeth Cole. Years later they discovered they had 2 half-brothers. Grandpa lived his life on the family farm until Feb 2018 when his failing health forced him to move to the nursing home in Turtleford.

Grandpa was a farmer through and through. He loved it and he loved talking about it. Always with an eye to the sky to see what the weather was doing and if you were talking about rain he always said “could use a little more on top”

In the early years he belonged to the Elmhurst Snowplow Club. He also delivered mail from Livelong to Elmhurst Store. He spent many years on the Livelong School Board and years later he bowled in a league in Livelong.

He drove school bus for 10 years and in the first years when the roads were so bad, he had to pull the bus down the road with the tractor with Grandma steering the bus. The first bus they owned was a real lemon and every night he had to fix it in order to drive again the next day. He was a good mechanic and welder and did a lot of work for people in the area until the vehicles got too modern. When Grandma and Grandpa owned the bus he installed an eight track player. They had many sing alongs on the way to and from school.

In the last 8 years Grandpa had many trips to Saskatoon for Dr. appointments and Mom was his chauffer. We enjoyed that time together and Grandpa always told a story of him and George Bannerman hauling cattle to Saskatoon in an old 3 ton truck. The story was always told but it was never quite the same.

Dad said when he met Grandpa his first impression was that he was a very nice, soft spoken, humble person. They had a great relationship and spent a lot of time together working on the farm, fixing things, going to auction sales and in more recent years just going for drives. One highlight trip was when Garry Kaplar flew Grandpa and Lane and Garry’s Dad to Regina to go to Agribition. I’m sure Grandpa enjoyed Agribition but the story he always told was how Garry senior hung on with white knuckles all the way there and back.

Growing up we had a lot of happy times spent on the farm. We often went with Grandpa in the old truck to check cows. One time when we were doing this, Grandpa had gotten out of the truck (which was still running) to open a gate. While he was out we decided it would be hilarious to lock him out of the truck. When he came back however he did not find it as funny as we did. He was mad and yelled, “you kids open this door right now or you’re not getting ice cream!”. So we did. He still took us for ice cream. That was the first and maybe only time we remember him actually being mad. Thinking about it now- I don’t think he was actually mad just scared we might take off with the truck and get hurt. I think this because as I said, that’s the only time I remember Grandpa getting “mad”. Even a few years later when helping with branding I chased a cow straight through a barbed wire fence and he wasn’t mad at all. Just said, “What a stupid cow”.

He was a friend to all his neighbors and loved to visit. Trips to town often took hours as there was always someone to visit with. Grandpa loved his family. He showed his love with actions more than words, but all of us always knew we were loved unconditionally. No matter how bad his health got, if you ever asked him how he was doing he’d shrug his shoulders and say, “Can’t complain”, “Doesn’t help to anyway”. He was always such a positive person who was more concerned with others than with himself. We will always remember the love you gave us and will love you forever. We miss you but know that you will stay with us all the days of our lives. Goodbye Grandpa.