Editor’s Note: Funeral services for Trustee John Cole will be held Tuesday, April 1 at 11 a.m. at Florence Boulevard Church of Christ, according to a campus-wide email sent Friday, March 28. The body will be available for viewing from 10 to 11 a.m. before the service.

John Bunyan Cole, a UNA Board of Trustees member, died earlier this week at the age of 76.

His death occurred on Wednesday, March 26 said Arthur Graves, President of Thompson and Son Funeral Home in Florence.

Steve Pierce, a fellow Board of Trustees member, received word of Cole’s passing through an email sent out Wednesday morning, he said.

“I knew he had been sick, but I actually saw him Saturday, and I saw him out eating the week before,” Pierce said. “I talked to him then. His passing came suddenly.”

Cole was a well respected member of the UNA Board of Trustees, Pierce said.

“John was one of those people who was very soft-spoken and very wise,” Pierce said. “When he did speak, everyone stopped what they were doing and listened – because we knew what he was going to say was something we all needed to hear.”

Being a trustee member was fitting for Cole, because he loved UNA students and the university as a whole, said Hermon Graham, Florence City Councilman.

“He wanted the students from UNA to go out and excel,” Graham said. “ He supported young folks who were in college and encouraged them to go out and make something of themselves in life. He did that with his life and set an example.”

Cole supported students by creating scholarship opportunities at UNA as well, said William Jordan, Florence City Councilman.

“He endowed several scholarships to the university,” Jordan said. “He was a very charitable man. Losing him is a great loss for the city and for the university.”

Cole’s family will be meeting with Thompson and Son Funeral Home on the afternoon of March 28 to make the funeral arrangements, Graves said.