The Cole Story

When I finally reached the "Coming of Age" stage of my life-somewhere in my mid-70s-I began to think about how little I knew about my parents, grandparents and great grandparents, not to mention my ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany or Timbuktu. I was informed that my Great-grandfather John Cole had fought in the War Between the States, and I first wondered was he with the North or the South since people in the Western part of North Carolina were divided or did not care about the issues. I chastised myself for not having the resourcefulness to ask my parents and grandparents about their lives, their values, and to learn of their good and bad experiences. I would like to know their opinion of the issues of their time and about what was going on in the world and their world. Those stories are lost.

What happens along the way-the tweaks of significant others, events, experiences, particularly in the early years-has a tremendous influence on the life and happiness out of a thousand possibilities. We only know the tweaks by looking back and seeing those things that gave direction and purpose to our life. This memoire is an attempt at the tweaks that affected the Cole Family.