Other Events and Attributes:

• Obituary: 13 Aug 1997

Notes:

Birth:
Daughter of Thomas and Ella Sarah (Lowrey) Hastings.

Obituary:
Bedford Times-Press, Wednesday, August 13, 1997

Effie Captola Hastings Cole

Effie Hastings Cole was born to Thomas and Ella Lowery Hastings on October 9, 1889 near Farragut, Iowa. Effie died Thursday, August 7, 1997 at the Bedford Nursing and Rehab Center. Effie almost made 108; it is believed that until her death she was the oldest living woman in the state of Iowa.

Effie's mother died when she was just eight years old, and so she helped her father raise her five-year-old brother and three year old sister. She lived in Taylor County all of her life. She attended public school through fourth grade when her mother died. She was also an active member of the Christian Church.

On October 1, 1906 she married Allen Roy Cole, better known as Bill and they lived in and around Gravity and Bedford, spending a short time in Montana and Kansas. They tenant farmed and every one or two years moved to a new farm. Even in the midst of all that hard work they had time to have eleven children. Burnyce Cole Goudie, Hazel Cole, twin boys who were stillborn, Raymond Cole, Twyla Fern Cole Sparks, Thomas Cole, Robert Cole, Betty Cole Kirby, Gerry Cole and Geraldine Cole Strong. None of these children were born in a hospital; all of them were born at home on the farm.

Effie not only raised her own kids, but also helped raise her brother, Jay Hastings sons, Bob and Lewis, and her granddaughters, Victoria and Pat, Betty's daughters.

Effie was a hard worker, a homemaker who used every means to get things done and provide for her family. She crocheted and made afghans, she picked berries, and pulled vegetables out of the garden and canned. Effie was a seamstress, she took chicken feed sacks and made shirts and dresses.

She built furniture, tore down walls, and hung wallpaper She was the one the kids sought when there was a problem. While playing in the haymow, the kids came across a snake and it was Effie that came after it with a hoe to kill it.

When the family was having problems with chicken thieves, one night she couldn't seem to wake up Bill, she took off out the door after the thieves with shotgun in hand.

In the early 1940's Bill and Effie moved to town. They lived in town for about 35 years when on February 12, 1977 Bill died and Effie would live alone for the next 20 years. She was 99 when she went into the nursing home. She was 100 when she had her first cataract removed, she never went to a hospital, she was never ill---maybe that is part of the secret. On her 100th birthday someone asked her what advice she would give to young people. She said, "girls keep your dresses down and boys keep your pants up". Seems like well needed advice when the teenage pregnancy rate has tripled in numbers.

It is amazing to think of all the things that came into being or happened in Effie's lifetime - cars, airplanes, motion pictures, televisions, transcontinental phone communication, radio, satellites, the atomic bomb, nuclear submarines, space travel, and computers. She lived through wars, the Battle of Wounded Knee, WWI, WWII, The Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. She lived through Ellis Island opening up to accept immigrants, prohibition, women receiving the right to vote, Amelia Erhart taking off to fly across the world, Jackie Robinson breaking into professional baseball, the Civil Rights movement, and many more life changing and world changing events. She also lived through 19 different presidents holding office.

When asked on her 100th birthday what one thing in her lifetime was the most amazing to her, it was putting a man on the moon.

Give or take a few family members, Effie had 11 children, 21 grandchildren, 61 great grandchildren, 44 great great grandchildren, and 3 great great great grandchildren. Whew! Now that is something to go to heaven and boast about.

Effie was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister and brother, 8 of her 11 children, some grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She will continue to be loved and she will be missed by her two daughters, Twyla Fern Sparks, Geraldine Strong and son Gerald Cole, and all those grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She was a kind, caring, hardworking woman and she will be missed by all those who had a chance to know her in her 107 years on this earth.

Services provided by Novinger Taylor Funeral Home, Monday, August 11, 1997 at 10:30 a.m. Burial at Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Iowa.

Buried:
Find A Grave e-Memorial

Effie married Allen Roy COLE on 1 Oct 1906 in IA. Allen (son of Thomas COLE and Lydia Ledorna KILBORN) was born on 9 Mar 1884 in Taylor Co., IA; died on 12 Feb 1977 in Bedford, Taylor, IA; was buried on 15 Feb 1977 in Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Burnyce Lucile COLE was born on 3 Aug 1907 in Gravity, Taylor, IA; died on 17 Nov 1986 in Banning, Riverside, CA; was buried in Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA.
2. Hazel Beatrice COLE was born on 14 Mar 1909; died on 20 Oct 1910; was buried in Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA.
3. Raymond Levere COLE was born on 2 Dec 1911 in IA; died on 7 Sep 1972; was buried in Mount Union Cemetery, Philomath, Benton, OR.
4. Twyla Fern COLE was born in 1913 in IA; died in 2015; was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Mesa, Maricopa, AZ.
5. Thomas Duane COLE was born on 16 Jul 1917 in MT; died on 24 Oct 1921; was buried in Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA.
6. Robert Dean COLE was born on 14 Feb 1923; died on 15 Sep 1925; was buried in Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA.
7. Betty Ella COLE was born on 8 Jul 1929 in Gravity, Taylor, IA; died on 25 Feb 1994.
8. Gerald COLE was born in 1932 in IA; died after 1977.
9. Geraldine COLE was born in Jun 1932 in IA.