Jeanette Elizabeth Cole

Jeanette is survived by her brother, Fred Holbert; children, Gonza Paul Cole III, Wanda Elizabeth, Anthonette and Jeanette Cole and a host of other family and friends.

She is preceded in death by John Henry, Robert Percy, Bernice, James and Clifford McEntyre, Lucille Miller, Lilly Williams and Leroy Holbert.

Jeanette was born June 23, 1937 to John Henry McEntyre and Lizzie Bell Miller in Tryon, NC. She accepted Christ at an early age and became a member of Green Creek Missionary Baptist in Tryon, NC. She graduated from Spindale/Carver High School in 1954.

After moving to Washington, DC and obtaining and working as a LPN, she met and married the late Gonza Paul Cole. They moved to Bethesda, MD in 1971 at which time Jeanette was a homemaker.

Upon her husband’s retirement in 1995, they relocated to North Laurel, Maryland where Jeanette worked as a contractor for the Maryland State Highway Administration until 2006.

After her husband’s death in 2000 and her subsequent illnesses, Jeanette moved to Columbia, Maryland in 2016 with her children and resided there until her death.

A southern hostess, Jeanette was known for her fried chicken, potato salad, and sweet potato pie. If family visited during meal time you were sure to find yourself with a hearty plate. However, her pound cakes were most drool worthy, especially the rum one. Anyone coming to visit on Sunday could look forward to a slice of freshly baked cake.

Jeanette credited her love of baking and cooking to her beloved Aunt Cari, who helped raised her until her father remarried, the late Estelle Holbert. She often said if she had not gone to school to become and LPN, she would have been a home economics teacher.

Upon her husband’s death, Jeanette chose Fort Lincoln Cemetery to be her and her husband’s final resting place due to her late husband’s love of history and his hometown. When asked why she did not want to be buried in her hometown with her family, she stated, “My children were born in DC, I lived in DC, Washington, DC is my home.”