Mrs. W.R. Cole Dies Monday At Her Home Here
Death Takes Rantoul Pioneer on Her 77th Birthday; Funeral Yesterday
BORN IN SWANWICK, ILL.
Mrs. W. R. Cole, a resident of Rantoul since 1868, died at her home here at 9:15 Monday morning, on her seventy-seventh birthday. She was born June 8, 1854 in Swanwick, Ill., and had lived in this community 63 years.
Mrs. Coles funeral was held Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 at the Methodist Church, the services being conducted by the Rev. Raye Ragan. Burial was in Maplewood Cemetery.
Mrs. Cole was Miss Mary Elizabeth Lavinia Steele, and was born at Swanwick, near Pinckneyville in Perry County, on June 8, 1854. She was the only daughter of the Rev. Daniel Steele and Mary Anderson Steele, who were both of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock. Her early education was obtained partly in local schools, but mainly under an English governess - and always under the scholarly direction of her father, a graduate of the University of Dublin and the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and of her mother, who had been a teacher for many years before her marriage.

Mr. Coon Was Pupil
In 1868 the Steele family moved to Rantoul where Mrs. Cole lived the rest of her life. For a short time she was a teacher in a private school in this town, and one of her pupils was the late E. G. Coon, who died recently in Champaign.
In 1872, on Aug. 12, she was married to William Robinson Cole, a native of Naponee (sic), Ontario, Canada. Mr. Cole had come here to be associated with his brother, Louis B. Cole, in the coal and grain business, but later entered the drug store with Mr. Steele and continued in that business until his retirement in 1901. After the death of Mr. Steele in 1891, Mr. Cole continued in charge of the drug store and Mrs. Cole assumed management of Mr. Steeles other businesses, including the hemp mill which stood where the buildings at Chanute Field now stand, and she had charge of it for several years.
Mrs. Cole was a member of the Presbyterian church from childhood. In 1882 she and Mr. Cole joined the congregational Church in Rantoul, which had formerly been a Presbyterian church. After the Congregational Church was disbanded, she became a member of the Rantoul Methodist Church.
Domestic Science Club Member
Mrs. Cole was interested and active in organization for the welfare of the community. She was president of the Womans Christian Temperance Union for a number of years, and active in the Ladies Aid Society of the Congregational Church. She was a member of the Rantoul Womans Club and had belonged to its forerunner, the Domestic Science Club.
Almost all her married life, Mrs. Cole had lived on Belle Avenue in what was the family home for the past 58 years. It was there she injured her arm early in April and never seemed to recover from the shock, but gradually grew weaker. She refused to give up, and was bedfast only one week.
Mrs. Cole was the mother of four children, as follows: Mary Maude, now Mrs. George Harvey Scott, who after the death of her husband, Dean Scott of Illinois College, Jacksonville, came to Rantoul to be with her mother; Alice Belle, who died at the age of 13 months; Lilly Lavinia, who died at the age of 11 years; and Daniel Thomas, a physician and surgeon of Palatine, Ill.
Died in 1904
Mr. Cole died Oct. 29, 1926, but Mrs. Cole is survived by her only brother, Dr. D.A.K. Steele, of Sarasota, Fla., and by five grandchildren. The grandchildren are William Arthur Scott, of Chicago; Franklin Daniel Scott, of Cambridge, Mass., but now in Europe; Mrs. Elizabeth Scott Stearns, of Cambridge, Mass.; Miss Lavinia Scott, of Bridgeport, Conn.; and Billy Cole, of Palatine, Ill. Another grandson, Irving Cole Scott, died in 1904.
The following tribute is paid Mrs. Scott [sic] by her friends:
Those who knew her best loved her and admired her strong Christian character, with her interest in life all about her. One of her outstanding characteristics was her alert interest in and loyalty to her friends and her ever readiness to help all about her. In whatever group she was associated she was leader, both in thinking and doing, for her life was an active and happy one. Her friends feel that these same words which were written about her mother at the time of her death in 1899, are just as fitting for her. She was noted for her Christian character, delightful personality, endless fund of anecdotes, unostentatious charity and her familiarity with the Holy Scriptures. Her closing hours were peaceful. Her work was finished and realizing this she was prepared to meet the Heavenly Father. Such a life is a monument of virtue that the storms of life can never destroy. A true and faithful friend, a loving mother and an earnest Christian has gone to her reward.
Music at the funeral service yesterday afternoon was furnished by Frank J. Bohlen, Walter E. Johnson, Paul Meuser and W. A. Brown.
The honorary pall bearers were Bart Rice, David Long, O. E. Williams, J. C. Webber, August Johnson, Joseph Mounts, C. C. Condit and G. G. Douglas. The active pall bearers were James F. Clark, J. L. Jones, H. P. Leighly, Paul Baker, L. L. Crane and Emory Turner.
The flowers were cared for by Mrs. S. S. Smith, Mrs. John Perring, Mrs. W.C.F. Kuhne, Mrs. Frank Yates, Mrs. James T. Frost, Mrs. A. A&. (the rest of the obituary is missing).

Submitted by: Janet Waggoner