W. R. COLE, 82, RESIDENT OF CITY 56 YEARS, DIES
Pioneer Resident Succumbs To Lingering Illness at Belle Avenue Home
RANTOUL DRUGGIST FOR THIRTY YEARS
Active In Congregational Church Of Which He Was Deacon Twenty-Five Years

Death entered one of the pioneer homes of Rantoul at 8 oclock Tuesday morning, October 26th, and claimed one of the citys beloved characters in William Robinson Cole, who was in his 82nd year, fifty-six of which he had spent in Rantoul.
The end came as a climax to a lingering illness of three years duration, during which period he received constantly the tender ministration of his devoted wife, Mrs. Mary E. Cole. The end came peacefully and without suffering.
The funeral will occur at 2 p.m. Thursday from the Congregational church in Rantoul, with Rev. C. R. Blood and Rev. A. E. Cole officiating. Interment will be in the Maplewood cemetery in Rantoul.
The following will be pallbearers: Bart Rice, David Long, Fred Musson, Emmett Perring, August Johnson, Joseph Mounts, O. E. Williams, and J. C. Webber.
Mr. Cole died in the home on Belle avenue which he had occupied for fifty-four years, into which he moved in 1872 immediately following his marriage.
William Robinson Cole was born on March 4, 1844, in Adophustown, Ontario, Canada, the son of Conrad B. and Sarah Ann Kennedy Cole. He received his education in Napannee, Ontario, and then went into business there with his brother Hiram.
Later, he conducted a mercantile establishment of his own in Newburg, Ontario.
In 1870, Mr. Cole came to Rantoul to visit his brother Louis, who was at that time a coal, grain, and lumber merchant.
Rantoul proved so attractive to the young man that he decided to remain here and assist his brother in business.
On August 12, 1872, Mr. Cole married Mary E. Lavinia Steele, daughter of Rev. Daniel Steele, for many years Presbyterian minister in Rantoul.
After an injury which crippled Mr. Steele through all his later life, he engaged in the drug business here and Mr. Cole became associated with him in it.
After Mr. Steeles death in 1891, Mr. Cole carried on the business successfully until 1901 when ill health caused him to retire from the confinement and responsibility of the drug store.
Mr. Cole heeded the advise [sic] of See America, and he and Mrs. Cole took several long and interesting trips, but the most of their well earned leisure they have enjoyed together in their beautiful home on West Belle avenue.
Four children have been born into this home: Mary Maude widow of the late Dean G. H. Scott of Illinois College at Jacksonville, Illinois; Alice Bell, who died when only thirteen months old; Lilly Lavinia who died at the age of eleven years; and Daniel Thomas, now a prominent physician and surgeon in Mt. Olive, Illinois.
There are five grand children: William Arthur Scott in business in Portland Oregon; Franklin Daniel Scott, professor of history in Simpson college, Indianola, Iowa; Mary Elizabeth Scott, and Clara Lavinia Scott, both at college at Jacksonville; and Mary Lois Cole in school in Mt. Olive.
Mr. Cole was the youngest of eleven children, having had three brothers and seven sisters. Three of these died in infancy, while all of the others attained a good old age, but the only one now surviving is Mrs. Zachary T. Withers of Joshua, Texas. Several nieces and nephews survive.
In his thirty years in the drug business in this community, as well as in those later years, Mr. Coles life was enriched by the many firm friendships he had made. His integrity and sterling worth commanded respect while his sincere and unselfish interest in other people won their esteem and affection. Even in his last illness when he was unable to speak his happy smile and the outstretching of his frail hands testified to his joy in seeing his friends.
Mr. Cole was a staunch and loyal Republican, always to be depended upon, though he had no taste for political life. He wan an active and devoted member of the congregational Church, in which he had served for twenty-five consecutive years as deacon, an office he still held at the time of this death.

Submitted by: Janet Waggoner