Orrin Cole
The Payette Independent
Thursday, November 12, 1925
O. D. COLE DIES SUDDENLY
PROMINENT PAYETTE CITIZEN SUCCOMBS TO HEART-FAILURE AT OREGON CITY WHILE ENROUTS TO CALIFORNIA
This community was greatly shocked Tuesday morning to receive the news of the death of O. D. Cole, formerly owner of the Payette Pharmacy and one of the prominent business men and citizens of our city.
Only last Saturday morning Mr. and Mrs. Cole started by auto for California, where they expected to spend the winter. He was apparently in the best of health and spirits and looked forward to a pleasant sojourn among the southern winter resorts. They started by way of Portland and had passed through the city and were midway between Portland and Oregon City when it began to rain and Mr. Cole slowed up the speed of his car. Notwithstanding he was only running 25 miles an hour, the car skidded on the smooth highway and turned a figure eight. Mr. Cole would probably have held the car on the road had it not struck a pole and turned over.
Mr. Cole was uninjured by the accident, but Mrs. Cole's right arm and shoulder were hurt. With the help of other travelers they got the car back on the highway and although it was damaged, he drove it on in to Oregon City where they took rooms at a hotel and prepared to remain while the car was taken back to Portland for repairs. Kind friends had rendered them every assistance and apparently Mrs. Cole was the only one who had suffered evil effects of the accident.
Mr. Cole enjoyed a good dinner at the hotel Monday evening and sat around and smoked and read the evening paper as usual until time to retire for the night. As Mrs. Cole's injury pained her considerably, although the doctor stated that her arm was not broken, and Mr. Cole was solicitous about her, shortly after midnight Mrs. Cole says he asked her how she was feeling and they conversed a few moments before he again fell asleep.
Tuesday morning when Mrs. Cole awakened she though him soundly sleeping and she quietly got up with the idea of letting him rest a little longer because of the extra exertions of the day before in getting the car out of the ditch. Seeing one of his hands uncovered she reached over and felt of it to see if he might be cold. The hand seemed colder than usual and still for a moment she did not realize what had happened. Then suddenly she felt uneasy and returned to the bed and placed her hand on his face only to find that he was cold in death. A physician was promptly summoned but he stated that Mr. Cole had probably died about 4 o'clock. Overexertion, when he assisted with the car was given as the probable cause of death.
Mrs. Cole returned to Payette with the body last night and is now awaiting the arrival of relatives. His son, Elmer, of Salt Lake, and sister, Mrs. Emma Giddings, of Salt Lake, arrived yesterday and their daughter, Mrs. J. E. Irwin, and Mr. Cole's brother, Dr. E. J. Cole and wife, all of Woodbine, Iowa, are expected to arrive tonight. Funeral services will be held at the Methodist church Sunday afternoon at 2:30. Rev. Hall preaching the sermon, and the Odd Fellows will conduct the services at the grave. An obituary notice will be published next week.
The Payette Independent (Thursday, November 19, 1925)
OBITUARY
Orin D. Cole was born in Woodbine, Iowa, on January 6th, 1859. In the early Nineties he was married, being later left a widower. To this union was born one son, Elmer who was associated with his father in business in Payette, and is now in Salt Lake. Mr. Cole first came to Idaho in 1905, and was a member of the Idaho Pharmaceutical Association and the Snake River Valley Druggists' Association.
For a number of years Mr. Cole travelled over the state, taking charge of, and building up pharmacies which were not in a flourishing condition. On November 28,1912, Mr. Cole was married to Mrs. Ida Butler, of Woodbine, Iowa. In September, 1917, Mr. Cole tired of roving, purchased the Payette Pharmacy, and made of it the prosperous and popular concern which it is today. He sold out to G. S. Schad, of Caldwell, in June, of this year, since which time he had been busy settling up his business, and preparing for the trip which had so sudden and disastrous an ending. Shock and overexertion, following a slight automobile accident near Oregon City, on November 9, caused his death.
Funeral services, impressive in their very simplicity, were conducted from the Methodist church on Sunday afternoon, the filling tribute to the dead man being offered in the sermon preached by the Rev. V. E. Hall. The church was crowded with those who had come to pay the last honors to a departed friend. The casket was literally covered and heaped with beautiful floral offerings, many of which came from a great distance.
Besides the Druggists' Association, Mr. Cole was a member of the Odd Fellows' Lodge and Camp, and was christened in the Methodist church and was as he himself was wont to say, "Heart and soul a Methodist."
The Chamber of Commerce, also counted him among its most loyal supporters. Mr. Cole is survived by his widow, his son, Elmer of Salt Lake, two grandchildren, one sister and three brothers. His sister, Mrs. Giddings of Salt Lake, and his brother Dr. Cole of Woodbine, Iowa, were able to attend the funeral, the other two brothers, one of Iowa and the other of Colorado were unable to be present. Interment was made in Riverside cemetery, where the services was in charge of the Odd Fellows.
Payette is mourning the loss of one of her best citizens.
In business his sterling integrity won for him the respect of all who had dealings with him, while to those less fortunate then himself, he was ever ready to lend the helping hand, or the word of timely counsel. Many there are in Payette who will find it hard to spare him from their midst, and his memory will always be held green in the hearts of his friends. To his sorrowing loved ones the people of Payette are filled with deepest sympathy.
CARD OF THANKS
We wish to express our thanks to the many friends and neighbors for their sympathy and kindness during our recent bereavement. Mrs. O. D. Cole, Elmer Cole, Mrs. Jay F. Irvin, Mrs. Emma Geddings, and Dr. E. J. Cole
Payette Enterprise (November 12, 1925)
O. D. COLE DIES AT OREGON CITY
O. D. Cole, a prominent druggist of this city, died suddenly at a hotel on Oregon City at an early hour Tuesday morning, while enroute to California with his wife where they expected to spend the winter. The news of his sudden death which came by wire was a severe shock and cast a shadow of gloom over the entire community.
Mr. and Mrs. Cole left Payette last Saturday morning by auto looking forward with much pleasure for a pleasant trip and to spend the winter in southern California and when near Oregon City met with a slight accident, the car skidding on the wet pavement and turned over on its side. While Mr. Cole was not injured, it is believed the shock caused his sudden death. After the car had been returned to Portland for repairs, Mr. and Mrs. Cole were taken on to Oregon City, where they expected to remain for a few days, while the car was being repaired and after eating a hearty meal and procuring some liniment for Mrs. Cole who had received a bruised arm, Mr. and Mrs. Cole retired for the night at a hotel and were in conversation until 12 o'clock, and in awakening at five in the morning Mrs. Cole found her husband has passed away. It is believed by the physician who was called that due to the shock caused by the accident he had died from heart failure at about 4 o'clock.
Immediately upon receiving the message the Odd Fellows lodge of this city, wire the lodge at Oregon City, who took charge of the affairs. The body arrived here late Wednesday evening where the funeral will be held Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Methodist church and will be in charge of the Odd Fellows lodge, of which the deceased is a member. A full and complete obituary will be published next week.
Payette Enterprise (November 19, 1925)
OBITUARY
Orrin D. Cole was born in Woodbine, Iowa, January 6, 1859, and died in Oregon City, Oregon, November 10, 1925. Mr. Cole passed the State Board of Examiners at Des Moines, Iowa, and became a registered pharmacist in 1880.
He lived in Iowa and Illinois until 20 years ago when he came to Idaho to take a man's part in developing this great empire of the far west. In 1910 he became a registered pharmacist in the state of Idaho and settled in Payette, September 25, 1918. Since that time he has resided in our midst and we have known him as a business man of striking ability. But comparatively few perhaps have known the real man, a man, the warmth and loyalty of whose friendship, stood the severest tests; a man, in whose life, the home love and joys bulked large; a man, whose plighted word, was sacred, not lightly given, but given, never retracted whatever the cost of its keeping might be. Not all of us knew him in this intimate personal way because he was naturally reticent. He did not easily express his feelings. He was not a mixer. Perhaps not many thought of Mr. Cole as a religious man. The strenuous demands of his business kept him from church services. But he was loyal to his mother's religion and declared to those nearest to him that God knew his heart and that he was a Methodist through and through.
Death came to him suddenly but not unawares. For some time he seems to have been suspecting and thinking about its approach. Beside a host of sincere friends and admirers he leaves a wife and daughter, Joy Irwin of Woodbine, Iowa, one son Elmer L. Cole, until recently of Payette, now of Salt Lake; one sister and two brothers to mourn his loss.
The funeral services were held from the Methodist Church and the Odd Fellows, of which order he was a member, conducted the rites at the grave, Sunday, November 15th.
