Lt. Col. Alvin "Jim" Cole, Iii. Usaf, Ret.

Lt. Col. Alvin "Jim" Cole, III., USAF, Ret., 70, of DeSoto, TX passed away on October 28, 2012. He is survived by his wife: Andrea Cole; daughter: Candi & her husband Paul Hollingsed; daughter: Kimberly & her husband Mike Kline; son: Maj. Adam "Epic" & his wife Britni Cole; son: Jeremy Cole; step daughter: Janiece Young; step daughter: Joanne & her husband Simon Hazan; step daughter: Julia & her husband Jon McDonald; step daughter: June & her husband Dr. Vijian Dhevan; grandchildren: Daxton, Ethan, Eliza, Jack, Autumn, Lidor, Lauren, Aiden, Lola, Arun and Narayan; mother: Kathryne Cole; brother: Mike & his wife Noel Cole. A Memorial Service will be held in the Chapel of West/Hurtt Funeral Home at 11:30 A.M. on Tuesday, November 06, 2012 with Mr. Robin Merritt, officiating. Entombment with Military Honors will follow in the Dallas/Ft. Worth National Cemetery, Dallas, TX. The family has requested in lieu of flowers memorials or donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, 4899 Belfort Rd., Suite 300, Jacksonville, Florida 32256 877-768-6823. Alvin Jerome "Jim" Cole, III was born on December 27, 1941 in St. Louis, MO. He was the first of two children born to Jerry and Katie Cole. He lived very close to the Missouri river on a farm in the tiny town of De Witt, MO for 8 years. The family then moved to Chillicothe, MO. He graduated High School in 1959. He attended Central State Collage at Warrensburg, MO, until he joined the Air Force in 1961 where he was immediately recognized as a leader. After graduating from boot camp in 1962, he was sent to technical school at Kessler AFB in Biloxi, MI, and quickly made rope (squad leader of 20 men). In 1962 he married Carol Wigfield. He continued his AF career, being promoted two stripes and training as radar technician. He applied for and was readily accepted into the Airman's Education and Commissioning program. In 1965 he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and graduated with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then attended Officer Training School in San Antonio, TX and graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate. He was immediately promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was selected for and attended Aircraft Maintenance Officer School. Due to his stellar performance in OTS, he was offered a regular commission (ordained by congress) and was transferred to the 46th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Mac Dill AFB in Tampa, FL. The base was in transition from flying the older F-84's to the new F-4 Phantoms. He described the outfit as "truly one of a kind". He logged many hours in the mighty phantom and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1967. He was deployed to Da Nang in 1968 with the 311th Air Commando Squadron where they primarily flew C-123's all over Vietnam. He describes the year as "uneventful" with the exception of being shot down coming out of Quang Tri, surviving a night attack at a special forces post called Bot To New and having is hooch blown up by a 122mm rocket. During this time he was promoted to Captain. He was shipped back to the US where he started Top Secret engineering work on what would become the first of the "Smart Bombs". He and Carol divorced in 1970. They had two children Candi and Kimberly. He received orders to Montreal, Qubec as an exchange officer for the Canadian Armed Forces. He met and married Barbara Rubottom in Marshall, AR and she accompanied him to Canada where he was in charge of acquisitions. In 1973 he was transferred back to the University of Missouri where he pursued a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate. He and Barbara had a son, Adam born in 1974. His follow on assignment was in Sacramento, CA at McClellan AFB where his 2nd son Jeremy was born in 1977. He was promoted to Major and selected for Air Command and Staff Collage at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL. He held several different jobs while there including teaching Colonel officers how to perform their duties as deputy wing commanders. In 1982 he was assigned to Hahn AFB, Germany as the Commander of 50th Aircraft Generation Squadron. It was the largest squadron in Europe with thousands of men and over 85 women. He was promoted to Lt. Colonel. His last assignment was a position of Vice Commander and Chief of Maintenance at a new facility to be established in the UK. He was then moved to Kelly AFB in San Antonio and retired in 1985. The family moved to Marshall, AR and he enjoyed life at the end of a dirt road on Zach Ridge, seven miles from a town of 1100 souls. He loved teaching his 2 young sons about living in the woods. He and Barbara divorced in 1999 and he moved to Dallas to be closer to his daughters, Candi and Kim. He met Andrea Young and they married in 2002. Their 10 years of marriage were spent traveling, loving and laughing. In 2010 he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and despite best efforts lost the battle on October 28, 2012. It was in this period of his life that he satisfied a life long search for "The Truth" and accepted Christ into his life. Alvin "Jim" Cole, III Lt. Col. USAF (retired) has left this world a better place for having had him in it. He will be dearly missed and never forgotten.