Cole attended all 12 years of school in Rochester, where he played football and baseball, graduating in 1988. He attended Central Washington University for three years after graduation, studying engineering.
As a teenager, he became interested in cars, restoring and customizing hot rods and street rods. Cole was a man capable of juggling many tasks, starting his own business, Cole's Rod and Custom, in 1989 while attending Central Washington University and closing the shop in 2004. He specialized in sheet metal fabrication and custom paint. Many of his cars won national awards for paint and continue to win awards, testifying to his commitment to quality work that stands the test of time. He was one of the recipients of the 2003 DuPont National Top Gun Paint Award, with a customer's 1941 Willys two-door coupe featured for July in the company's 2003 calendar.
Cole and Kat married Sept. 7, 2002, in Florence, Oregon. Cole graduated from Trinity Lutheran College with a Bachelor of Arts in biblical studies, with an emphasis in biblical languages, in June 2003. He earned a Master of Divinity from Regent College, a nondenominational theological graduate school in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 2007. Their first son, Noah, was born in Vancouver in 2005. The family returned to Washington in 2006. They moved to Rochester shortly after their second son, Luka, was born in 2008 to manage the family business, the Outback RV Park, and plant a church.
Gather Church started as a 12-person Bible study in the clubhouse at the RV park and continued to grow. The first church service was held Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011. Gather's community resources began with a food and clothing bank and Eat Free Café at 100 S. Rock St. and later expanded to include a medication-assisted treatment program for opioid use disorder, harm reduction services, an outpatient substance use treatment program, care coordination, primary care, peer services, mental health treatment, housing support programs, Parents as Teachers and a state-subsidized child care facility. Gather has since expanded to four locations. Since its inception, Gather has been about being the hands and feet of Jesus in the community, helping those who are most marginalized.
Gather Church began distributing free Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication, in 2018 in partnership with the University of Washington. This marked the beginning of Gather's work in harm reduction, a controversial topic in Lewis County. Services later expanded into mobile harm reduction, providing syringe exchange and safe disposal, wound care, basic necessities, referrals to resources and treatment, and, most importantly, relationships with staff to help people make the next healthy decision.
This work was not viewed favorably by many and prompted the Lewis County Board of Commissioners to enact an ordinance in 2024 severely limiting these services. Cole and Gather Church responded by filing a lawsuit with the assistance of the ACLU of Washington, the ACLU National and the Law Firm of Kaplan and Grady. An injunction was issued in December 2025, with the federal judge ultimately siding with Gather Church. The county agreed to write an ordinance repealing the original ordinance, and the lawsuit was dismissed. The case established new federal precedent protecting people who access syringe exchange and harm reduction services nationwide.
Cole lived his life with integrity, unflinching dedication to God, courage and love. He lived by a couple of mottos: "Do what you can with what you have," and "Get into good trouble, necessary trouble," a quote from John Lewis, U.S. congressman and social justice activist. Cole took literally the words of Jesus: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31.) Our vision for the church was to meet the needs of those most marginalized in Lewis County, and this is being accomplished. He made a lasting impact on our community and will forever be missed.
Cole was diagnosed with colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver May 31, 2026, and died July 27, 2026, with his wife and Patty Howard at his side. He received excellent end-of-life care at the Franciscan Hospice House in University Place, Washington.
He is survived by his wife, Kat Meckle; sons, Noah and Luka Meckle; parents, Wil and Jane Meckle; and sister, Kim Fry.
A celebration of life will be held Aug. 15, 2026, at 4 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Centralia. A reception with light refreshments will follow. Memorial contributions may be made to Gather Church, PO Box 144, Centralia, WA 98531.
