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Col. Norman Jensen Cole, M.D.May 25, 1915 – September 25, 2004

Post Independent Writer

Norman Cole was born in Hinsdale, Ill., the oldest of three children. During his childhood he lived in various locations around the globe, as his father was a baker for the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Travels at an early age included trips to Africa, where he saw his true calling in the medical field. In 1947, Cole earned his medical degree while in California, where he went on to perform his internship and residency at Baltimore City Hospital. There he met his future wife of 55 years in the operating room. He was the surgeon, she was the head operating room nurse. They were wed, and he enlisted in the Army Medical Corps. For 28 years, he served his country in various command locations, including Europe with the occupying forces, the Korean War as a MASH commander and later as a commanding officer of a medical group, and in Vietnam at the Second Surgical Hospital.After retiring from the service, Cole went on to work for the Colorado Department of Social Services. Upon retiring from that posting, he began his own practice as a nursing care physician. He continued to take care of the elderly well into his later years until he retired to the Battlement Mesa area, where he continued his life-long passion for caring for those less fortunate. He and his wife, Noreen, enjoyed life in Battlement Mesa and made fast friends. Cole spent the last few years of his life under the care of the Colorado State Veterans Hospital staff in Rifle. He is preceded in death by his wife and by his brother, Glenn. He is survived by a sister, Violet; his children, Anita and Barry, and their spouses, David Nielson and Marion Cole; and four grandchildren, Patrick and Meghan Cole, and Michael and Jessica Nielson.Upon personal request by the deceased, there will be no memorial services. However, gifts can be donated at any Alpine Bank location, care of the Norman J. Cole Audubon Society fund to help preserve the birds that he was so fond of later in life.Upon personal request by the deceased, there will be no memorial services. However, gifts can be donated at any Alpine Bank location, care of the Norman J. Cole Audubon Society fund to help preserve the birds that he was so fond of later in life.


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