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(Jan. 30, 2017 - by Harold Goerzen) Retiree Lucille “Lou” Cole, who spent 14 years as a missionary in Quito, Ecuador, serving with the same organization as her parents, left a legacy that is an ongoing one.
Lucille Hope Cole was born on Nov. 13, 1936, in Los Angeles to Donald and Faith Turner. She died on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in DeKalb, Ill.
She was still a young child when her parents moved to Las Delicias, Venezuela, to serve as missionaries at a Bible institute. Later they accepted a challenge by Reach Beyond co-founder Clarence Jones to move to Quito to establish a Spanish-language Bible correspondence school that would incorporate programs aired on Radio Station HCJB.
Cole was 11 years old when she arrived in Quito where her parents founded the Bible Institute of the Air (BIA) in 1949. Now called the Christian Academy of the Air, it is being administered by Reach Beyond partner ministry Inspiracom (formerly World Radio Network) based in McAllen, Texas.
“Her parents had a regular Bible study in their home and led many to the Lord,” recalls Reach Beyond retiree Roger Reimer who served as director of the Healthcare Division in Quito. “They left a legacy that continues today in the revitalized BIA with their courses in revised versions.”
Cole spent the majority of her junior and senior high school years at the Alliance Academy International in Quito, Ecuador. After graduating she attended Wheaton College in Illinois, earning her bachelor’s degree in oral interpretation with a minor in elementary education.
On Aug. 25, 1957, she married Richard “Dick” Cole whom she met through close family friends. She and her husband moved to Glen Echo, Md., where she worked at the Venezuelan Embassy as a bilingual receptionist.
Seven years later, along with their three children, they moved to Quito to serve with Reach Beyond for 14 years. While in Ecuador, Cole completed her master’s degree by correspondence through Wheaton College, taught women’s Bible studies and wrote scripts for numerous radio and TV programs, performing in many of them.
One of those radio programs was the oral interpretation of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series in English for broadcast to the Americas. Two more children were born during her time in Ecuador.
Reach Beyond retirees Doug and Darlene Peters remember Cole as a “busy mother involved in radio and TV programs at the station. As a missionary kid she was completely bilingual in English and Spanish and used those skills to enhance her ministry.”
“I organized a small prayer group of us mothers to pray for our children, included some of us who had all our kids back in the States in college, and one who had teenagers at the Alliance Academy,” added retiree Margaret Gowan. “Lou heard about it and asked if she could join us. So we became prayer partners, praying over our children. And today we can see the results of those prayers, and thank our gracious God for answering them. Lou was a gifted lady who faithfully used her gifts and talents for the Lord.”
In 1979 the Coles returned to the U.S. to live in Wheaton where Lou worked for World Relief and then Bibles for the World, serving as an administrative assistant, missionary liaison and recruiter. She also worked as a legal secretary at Schmidt and Barbrow, an attorney firm in Wheaton.
As a member of the Wheaton Evangelical Free Church, she taught women’s Bible studies, served as a deaconess, sang in choir and helped in drama and hospitality. In recent years, she attended First Baptist Church in Sycamore, Ill.
In December 2009, Cole and her husband moved to the Oak Crest Retirement Center in DeKalb where she contributed her talents in music, poetry, storytelling and decorating. She also began a book club with her close friend, Anita Elwell, and worked part time at the Winfield Flower Shoppe.
In addition to her husband, Dick, of 59 years, she is missed by her five children, Susan, Mark, Donna, Kathryn and Beth; seven grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a sister, Alegria; and a brother, Glen. She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Ruth.
A memorial service was held on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Wheaton Bible Church, in West Chicago, Ill. Memorial gifts may be made to partner SonSet Solutions (formerly the HCJB Global Technology Center) in Elkhart, Ind., or the Oak Crest Good Samaritan Fund.
Source: Reach Beyond
Lucille Hope Cole was born on Nov. 13, 1936, in Los Angeles to Donald and Faith Turner. She died on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in DeKalb, Ill.
She was still a young child when her parents moved to Las Delicias, Venezuela, to serve as missionaries at a Bible institute. Later they accepted a challenge by Reach Beyond co-founder Clarence Jones to move to Quito to establish a Spanish-language Bible correspondence school that would incorporate programs aired on Radio Station HCJB.Cole was 11 years old when she arrived in Quito where her parents founded the Bible Institute of the Air (BIA) in 1949. Now called the Christian Academy of the Air, it is being administered by Reach Beyond partner ministry Inspiracom (formerly World Radio Network) based in McAllen, Texas.
“Her parents had a regular Bible study in their home and led many to the Lord,” recalls Reach Beyond retiree Roger Reimer who served as director of the Healthcare Division in Quito. “They left a legacy that continues today in the revitalized BIA with their courses in revised versions.”
Cole spent the majority of her junior and senior high school years at the Alliance Academy International in Quito, Ecuador. After graduating she attended Wheaton College in Illinois, earning her bachelor’s degree in oral interpretation with a minor in elementary education.
On Aug. 25, 1957, she married Richard “Dick” Cole whom she met through close family friends. She and her husband moved to Glen Echo, Md., where she worked at the Venezuelan Embassy as a bilingual receptionist.
Seven years later, along with their three children, they moved to Quito to serve with Reach Beyond for 14 years. While in Ecuador, Cole completed her master’s degree by correspondence through Wheaton College, taught women’s Bible studies and wrote scripts for numerous radio and TV programs, performing in many of them.
One of those radio programs was the oral interpretation of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series in English for broadcast to the Americas. Two more children were born during her time in Ecuador.
Reach Beyond retirees Doug and Darlene Peters remember Cole as a “busy mother involved in radio and TV programs at the station. As a missionary kid she was completely bilingual in English and Spanish and used those skills to enhance her ministry.”
“I organized a small prayer group of us mothers to pray for our children, included some of us who had all our kids back in the States in college, and one who had teenagers at the Alliance Academy,” added retiree Margaret Gowan. “Lou heard about it and asked if she could join us. So we became prayer partners, praying over our children. And today we can see the results of those prayers, and thank our gracious God for answering them. Lou was a gifted lady who faithfully used her gifts and talents for the Lord.”
In 1979 the Coles returned to the U.S. to live in Wheaton where Lou worked for World Relief and then Bibles for the World, serving as an administrative assistant, missionary liaison and recruiter. She also worked as a legal secretary at Schmidt and Barbrow, an attorney firm in Wheaton.
As a member of the Wheaton Evangelical Free Church, she taught women’s Bible studies, served as a deaconess, sang in choir and helped in drama and hospitality. In recent years, she attended First Baptist Church in Sycamore, Ill.
In December 2009, Cole and her husband moved to the Oak Crest Retirement Center in DeKalb where she contributed her talents in music, poetry, storytelling and decorating. She also began a book club with her close friend, Anita Elwell, and worked part time at the Winfield Flower Shoppe.
In addition to her husband, Dick, of 59 years, she is missed by her five children, Susan, Mark, Donna, Kathryn and Beth; seven grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a sister, Alegria; and a brother, Glen. She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Ruth.
A memorial service was held on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Wheaton Bible Church, in West Chicago, Ill. Memorial gifts may be made to partner SonSet Solutions (formerly the HCJB Global Technology Center) in Elkhart, Ind., or the Oak Crest Good Samaritan Fund.
Source: Reach Beyond
P.O. Box 39800
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9800
800.873.4859
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9800
800.873.4859