Margaret “Denny” (Kirkendoll) Cole, of Ethel, mixed milkshakes at a shop in Toledo, painted several dozen houses built by her husband and raised three children.
But she also lost her first child before birth and another one later. She described the losses as “hard enough,” adding, “But you know a farm girl … it didn’t depress me too bad.”
“People didn’t talk about that stuff in those days,” said Cole, 97. “Now, everything’s wide open.”
Cole, a talented artist and descendant of Toledo pioneers, submitted the winning design for a logo to commemorate Lewis County’s sesquicentennial in 1995. Her design featured an outline of Lewis County’s original boundaries stretching to the Canadian border and its current boundaries plus trees, fish, elk and an airplane. She won $200 and saw her design used on commemorative pins and coins.
“She’s actually pretty proud of herself,” said her daughter, Sheryl McKinley, of Chehalis.
Although a native of Toledo who graduated from high school there, Cole spent two decades moving around the world as she followed her husband to Navy stations.
After she and Larry Cole married in August 1944, they moved to Vallejo, California, where Larry was assigned to the USS Haggard, a Fletcher-class destroyer built in Seattle. Then, he constructed buildings and airports in South Pacific islands. Later, he had shore duty for three years and built houses during his off hours. Denzil painted them.
After the birth of their eldest son, Gene, in August 1947, Denzil and the baby traveled on a ship to join her husband in Saipan. She described the island as “big” with Quonset huts, all the amenities for living and a bay where she collected shells. While in Saipan, she gave birth to their second son, Rick, in March 1949.
Larry was present for the delivery of only one of their three children.
“Oh, he was only home with me when I had gone into labor one time and he says, ‘never again’,” Cole said. “Wasn’t either.”
They returned to California, where her mother — Edith Kirkendoll, a lifelong Toledo resident — drove down for a visit, shooting straight past the Oregon-California border crossing rather than stopping as required to identify any fruit she might have in the car.
While living in Oxnard, California, Cole gave birth to her last child, Sheryl, in August 1952.
The family of five then moved across the country to Newport, Rhode Island, where they lived until Larry retired from the Navy as a warrant officer after more than two decades of service.
They returned to Lewis County and moved into her Grandma Margaret “Maggie” Layton’s old house outside Toledo. Larry worked 18 years for Jackson Prairie Gas Storage and constructed several dozen homes throughout the county as a licensed builder.
“He had to be going all the time,” Cole said. “And it kind of runs in the family. I think it’s in the genes.”
In 1966, Larry built the house where Cole still lives today.
“She was always upset when he was remodeling because he’d leave sawdust all over,” her daughter said. “She always had to clean it up. But I found out the other day you call that ‘man glitter.’”
Cole painted the houses and paid the bills.
All three of their kids graduated from Toledo High School — Gene in 1966, Rick in 1967, and Sheryl in 1971.
“I worked at the shake shop for a while,” Cole said, mixing milkshakes and serving sandwiches to customers in downtown Toledo.
After retiring, Larry and Denzil traveled to Australia. She visited England with a granddaughter. And they attended Navy reunions.
Cole maintains a garden, but, she said, “nothing too big.”
“I’m not much for canning and all that jar stuff,” she said. “If you can’t freeze it, you don’t get it.”
She has six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren with two more due to arrive in August.
Larry died on Jan. 3, 1998, at the age of 76 after falling from a slippery ladder and hitting a sidewalk while constructing an addition over a garage. They had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1994.
What’s the secret to her longevity?
“Just my family’s genes,” Cole said. “I never smoked or drank. I try to eat reasonably well.”
Her weight never varied much other than when she was pregnant. Besides a bit of arthritis in her fingers, she’s healthy.
“I eat like a horse,” she said. “I take a little heart pill, but that’s blood pressure. And that’s it.”
But she moves, and she moves fast.
You’re likely to bump into her in town as I did at the Dollar Tree because she still drives during the day. She also maintains a positive outlook.
“I try to live by the golden rule, and that’s about the best I can do,” she said.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
