Betty J. Cole

Betty J. Cole, 95, a former longtime resident of Rhinecliff and Rhinebeck died peacefully on Friday, January1st at Renaissance Rehabilitation in Staatsburg where she had resided since May 2018.

Born in Detroit on August 1, 1925 to the late Frederick and Anna (Geiss) Ziegler, she was the youngest of 12 children.

On March 2, 1946 at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Detroit, she married Donald Cole whom she had met on a blind date when he was serving in the U.S. Navy. After they were married, they moved to Rhinecliff where her husband worked in his family’s business growing anemones, camellias and other flowers for the wholesale markets in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Albany, Washington DC, and Hartford.

Mr. Cole predeceased her on September 14, 2002.

Prior to her marriage, she had worked in the billing office at Salve Company in Detroit. After they moved back to New York, Mrs. Cole worked with the family helping sort, bundle and prepare flowers for shipping.

Mrs. Cole was a member of the Hyde Park Methodist Church, The Rhinebeck Historical Society, and the Rhinebeck Chapter of A.A.R.P. She was also a former member of

The Garrettson United Methodist Church in Rhinebeck.

Mrs. Cole is survived by two daughters and their spouses, Susan and Joseph Turzik in Hyde Park and Sandra and Rowland Bryant in Sanford, Maine, a grandson, Shawn Conway and his fiancée, Jennifer Robinson, in Red Hook, and many nieces and nephews and their families scattered around the country.

The family would also like to thank the staff at Renaissance Rehabilitation for the care they provided over the past 2 ½ years.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Cole was also predeceased by her 2 brothers, Frederick Ziegler and Harold Ziegler, and her 9 sisters, Florence Corey, Esther Doerr, Hazel Reinholz, Henrietta Okraj, Emily Tank, Evelyn Bickel, Ruth Winninger, Annabelle Larsen, and Dolores Scott, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Calling hours are Wednesday, January 6th from 4:00  – 7:00 PM at the Dapson – Chestney Funeral Home, 51 West Market Street, Rhinebeck. Please keep in mind that masks and social distancing are required.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, January 7th at 1:30PM at the Funeral Home. Rev Kregg Gabor from The Hyde Park Methodist Church will be officiating. Burial will be in Rhinebeck Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Rhinecliff Fire Department, Rhinecliff, NY 12574.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Betty J. Cole, please visit our floral store.