Margaret Marvelyn Cole

Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1923, Margaret Marvelyn McGuinness grew up in nearby East Orange, the eldest of two children. As a girl, she enjoyed attending baseball games with her father at the local ballpark, where the semi-pro Newark Bears often played the New York Yankees in exhibition games. She distinctly remembered seeing Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio play baseball.

Upon her graduation from high school, she briefly attended Columbia University with the aim of to become a teacher, but with the outbreak of the Second World War, she enrolled in training at Wright-Patterson Field to be an Army Air Force nurse, though she graduated too late to see action. After the war, she found work as a public health inspector for the Boys’ Club of New York. She later commented, “You’ve never lived until you’ve had to check people for lice.”

While in New York City, she lived in the same apartment building as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the only Americans ever convicted and executed for spying for the Soviet Union. Though she never spoke to the couple, Margaret remembers being questioned by the police and the FBI about the two traitors shortly after their arrest.

Margaret returned to duty as a nurse in the early 1950s, driving ‘cracker box’ ambulances with a phone book on the seat behind her back because she was too short to reach the pedals. She also served as a flight nurse in Europe, shuttling patients back and forth between West Germany and West Berlin, flying the Berlin Corridor in C-47 medical transport planes. In October 1952, her C-47 was blown out of the safe flight space by high winds, prompting the Soviets to send two MiG-17 fighter jets to fire warning shots across the nose of her aircraft. Though it was little more than saber-rattling, the event blew into an international diplomatic incident, reported in newspapers nationwide. She remained in the Air Force as a nurse until shortly after her marriage, achieving the rank of Captain before leaving the service.

Margaret spent the next several decades devoting herself to raising her family. She loved reading to her children, growing fruits and vegetables in her backyard garden, helping plan special camping vacations around the country, and making every holiday special for her family. Her Christmas cookies were legendary from California to Pennsylvania to Texas and she generously baked for her entire neighborhood. While living in Grove City, Pennsylvania after her husband retired from the Air Force, Margaret started working for the local Meals on Wheels, providing warm lunches and dinners to local elderly residents. She eventually became the organization’s director.

Upon her husband’s second retirement from college teaching, the couple moved to San Antonio, where Margaret continued her love of gardening, reading, and volunteering at local medical facilities for the elderly. After her husband’s death, she remained by herself in her own house, devoting her time to charitable work, gardening, reading, and watching QVC. To the end of her life, she maintained an unquenchable curiosity and sense of wonder about the world, especially its plants and animals. Her backyard was a fuel stop and a safe haven for local and migratory bird species, and she took great delight in cultivating the plants that would attract these creatures to her yard.

Margaret Cole awoke every morning, even in the darkest of times, and found light and joy in the world. In the end, her body wore out, but her soul was indomitable.

Margaret was preceded in death by her husband, Lt. Col. John W. Cole, and by her brother, Mr. Matthew McGuinness of Somers, Connecticut. She is survived by her two sons, John M. Cole (spouse: Silvia Savenago) of Ivrea, Italy and David C. Cole of San Antonio, and one grandchild, Rosabel Cole of Ivrea.

Interment will be at Fort Sam Houston next to her husband, on 30 December 2024.