Sedalia Democrat, 8 December 1977, page 4, column 1 (from newspaper collection, Newspaper Library, State Historical Society of Missouri) George Ernest Cole TIPTON – George Ernest Cole, 89, died Wednesday at the Statewide Nursing Home in Jefferson City. He was born in Cooper County, Dec. 6, 1888, son of the late Holbert and Sally Salmon Cole. In 1908, he married Ruth Smith at Pilot Grove, and she died in 1933. He then married Laura Parker in 1936 at Pilot Grove, and she died in 1972. Mr. Cole was the great-great-grandson of Hannah Cole, one of Missouri’s pioneers. He was a farmer and owned and operated a grocery store in Prairie Home until his retirement in 1971. He was a member of the Mount Nebo Baptist Church in Cooper County. Survivors include three sons, George Jr., Elmo and Richard Cole, all of the state of California; two daughters, Mrs. Auline Farris, High Point, Mo.; Mrs. Lorine Copeland, Tipton; two brothers, Porter Cole, Smithton; Charles Cole, Sutter, Calif.; three sisters, Mrs. Frances Brumble, Houstonia; Miss Vera Cole, Smithton; Mrs. Nina Ross, state of Florida; 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Conn Funeral Chapel here with the Rev. Lee Schaffer officiating. Burial will be in the Mount Vernon Cemetery at Pilot Grove. Friends may call after 9 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. -- Bill Scroggin Reply to: [email protected]