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Effie Captola HASTINGS

Effie Captola HASTINGS

Female 1889 - 1997  (107 years)

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  • Name Effie Captola HASTINGS 
    Birth 9 Oct 1889  Fremont Co., IA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2] 
    • Daughter of Thomas and Ella Sarah (Lowrey) Hastings.
    Gender Female 
    Obituary 13 Aug 1997  [3] 
    • 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.
    Death 8 Aug 1997  Richmond, Ray, MO Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Burial Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4] 
    Person ID I445  MM
    Last Modified 13 Sep 2022 

    Family Allen Roy COLE,   b. 9 Mar 1884, Taylor Co., IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Feb 1977, Bedford, Taylor, IA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 92 years) 
    Marriage 1 Oct 1906  IA Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Children 
     1. Burnyce Lucile COLE,   b. 3 Aug 1907, Gravity, Taylor, IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Nov 1986, Banning, Riverside, CA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 79 years)
     2. Hazel Beatrice COLE,   b. 14 Mar 1909   d. 20 Oct 1910 (Age 1 year)
     3. Raymond Levere COLE,   b. 2 Dec 1911, IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Sep 1972 (Age 60 years)
     4. Twyla Fern COLE,   b. 1913, IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 2015 (Age 102 years)
     5. Thomas Duane COLE,   b. 16 Jul 1917, MT Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Oct 1921 (Age 4 years)
     6. Robert Dean COLE,   b. 14 Feb 1923   d. 15 Sep 1925 (Age 2 years)
     7. Betty Ella COLE,   b. 8 Jul 1929, Gravity, Taylor, IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 25 Feb 1994 (Age 64 years)
     8. Gerald COLE,   b. 1932, IA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1977 (Age > 46 years)
     9. Geraldine COLE,   b. Jun 1932, IA Find all individuals with events at this location
    Family ID F300  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 23 Jul 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 9 Oct 1889 - Fremont Co., IA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1 Oct 1906 - IA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 8 Aug 1997 - Richmond, Ray, MO Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - - Washington Cemetery, Gravity, Taylor, IA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S244] Taylor Co., IA, State Census, (http://www.rootsweb.com/~iataylor/, 1998), 244.

    2. [S300] Social Security Death Index, (Social Security Administration, Washington D.C.), 300.

    3. [S1155] Newpaper Articles and Obituaries, Bedford Times-Press (Bedford, IA) Aug. 13, 1997, 1155.

    4. [S349] Taylor Co., Iowa GenWeb, 349.

    5. [S24] O'Dell, Pat, Iowa Newspaper Index, Bedford Free Press, 24.