WILMINGTON, MA — Born in Wilmington, MA, son of the late Grace Rita (Howes) and Everett Nelson Cole, Sr., Mr. Everett Nelson Cole, Jr. peacefully passed away on January 28, 2017. He is survived by his wife, Mitsu; six children: Cynthia Cole and her husband Frederic Erdman; Diane Isaacson; Everett N. Cole, III and his wife Diana; Dr. Julie Shacoski and her husband Chris; Dr. Amy Cole and her husband Steve; Janet Flagg and her husband Martin; three step children: Robert, Daniel and Mark Jodoin; his former wife, Louise Cole; his brother, Chester Cole; many grandchildren and a large extended family.
Enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Wilmington High School, he served tours of duty in the Pacific Rim stationed in: Korea, Tai Pei, and Japan during the Korean Conflict which left a lasting impression and fueled a love for travel later in his life.
Upon discharge from service, he returned to Massachusetts and was employed by Transitron Electronic Corporation. Armed with a brilliant, curious mind and textbooks purchased at local colleges, Everett began to develop new tools and systems to support the electronics and high-tech industry during the beginning of what would later be called the Massachusetts Miracle. He started a company in the basement of his home in Tewksbury and later moved to Lowell, shifting his focus to the manufacture of printed circuit boards to support emerging companies such as Texas Instruments, Bose, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and many more. He received recognition from the late U.S. Representative Paul Tsongas for his efforts towards the revitalization of Lowell, choosing to renovate abandoned mill buildings for his factories and supporting the local economy. He was a strong advocate for local immigrants and the underserved in his community, often supporting local initiatives and especially families who worked for him by sponsoring entry and assimilation into the community for relatives.
His passion for science and engineering was hardly limited to his work. He was quite comfortable tinkering with old cars to create gorgeous vintage restorations, and often experimenting with new technology such as motion sensors, solar energy, fiber optics and recycling long before they were mainstream. An avid lover of nature, Everett would often rise early to fish at the family cottage on Webster Lake, with John Denver blaring from the boat speakers or could be found working in the garden on his beloved Kubota.
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Everett Nelson Cole, Jr. Engineering Scholarship, c/o Greater Lowell Technical High School, 450 Pawtucket St., Lowell, M 01854; which will be awarded to an engineering student with an insatiable appetite for tinkering.
(NOTE: The above obituary is from Legacy.com.)
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