Datis E. Cole Sr.
U.S. Air Force veteran

GREENVILLE - Datis Eugene Cole Sr., of 232 Shannon Lake Circle, passed

away Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, at St. Francis Hospital Downtown.

Born Sept. 10, 1916, in Findlay,

Ohio, he was

a son of the late Willis Earl and Lucy Katherine Cole and husband of Dorothy Glenn Cole.

Mr. Cole served his country in the United States Air Force as a bomber pilot during World War II, flying

over 30 missions

into Nazi Germany.

He retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel after 27 years of service. He was an engineer employed for the United States Post Office, retiring after 37 years of service. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church where he served as a Deacon, Elder and Clerk of Session.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Datis E. Cole Jr. and his wife, Myra Ashley, of Greenville and Robert (Robbie) Cole and his wife, Dr. Pam Cole, of Greenville; a brother, George F. Cole of Perrysburg, Ohio; one sister, Juanita Prowant of Phoenix, Ariz.; and a grandson, Christopher Cole Thrasher of Greenville.

In addition to his parents, Mr. Cole was preceded in death by a daughter, Kathleen Cole Thrasher, and two brothers, Burt Cole and Willard Cole.

The family will receive friends Tuesday from 12-2 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Services will be at 2 p.m. immediately following the visitation, with the Rev. Richard Gibbons, the Rev. Dr. Randolph Kowalski, the Rev. Dr. Pamela Patrick Cole and the Rev. Stan Johnson officiating. Interment will follow in Woodlawn Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 200 West Washington St., Greenville, S.C. 29601; or to Buffalo Baptist Church, 618 Old Buffalo Church Road, Blacksburg, S.C. 29701.

The family is at the home.

Arrangements by The Mackey Mortuary, Century Drive, Greenville.