Fern Darlene Cole

Fern Darlene Olson Cole – 12-04-1931 - 04-09-2019 
Fern went to be with the Lord on April 9th, 2019 after receiving excellent care at Good Samaritan - Prescott Village Care Center in Prescott for multiple incurable illnesses.  She was 87 years old.  Fern was born in Ortonville, MN on Dec 4, 1931, the daughter of Louis B. and Elsie Olson, and she grew up in a family of one sister and two brothers. In high school, she was given a 78 RPM record of the St. Olaf choir singing ‘Beautiful Savior,’ and became determined to be the first of her family to go to college, and the college to be St. Olaf.  She graduated in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree cum laude in Sociology and Christian Education.  While there, she played baritone in the St. Olaf band, and became quite interested in an underclassman named Wallace who also happened to play baritone.  She was thrilled to soon discover that he had worked for 5 years after high school, and was actually older than she was.  After Fern worked for a year as a parish worker at Zumbro Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN while Wally finished at St. Olaf, they married and were off to Luther Seminary in the Twin Cities. They spent a year in San Diego, CA during Wally’s internship to become a Lutheran pastor, where Fern worked for San Diego County Welfare.  For the next seven years Wally and Fern lived in rural Mapleton, MN where Wally served as pastor at Medo Lutheran Church.  During this time, two sons came into their lives, David in California, and Steven in Minnesota.  In 1965, Wally accepted a call to Rock Point, AZ on the Navajo reservation as pastor and director at Navajo Lutheran Mission, founding House of Prayer Lutheran Church.  Fern, Wally and sons packed up in a Minnesota spring blizzard and traveled to a state most of their friends and relatives had never seen, living and serving there for 25 years.   Fern raised her two boys in a loving home, but also taught in a one room school house, cooked in the school kitchen, drove four wheel drive vehicles through washes and over the mesas to visit among the Navajo people, and began a concerted effort to learn the Navajo language, becoming one of the rare Anglos to speak conversational Navajo.  She used this talent to work with Dr. William Wonderly of the American Bible Society and Joe Wilson from the Rock Point Community School to translate a number of New Testament books into conversational Navajo, part of a revised Bible still used by Navajo Christians today.  Retiring in 1990, Fern and Wally moved to Prescott, accepting a part time call for Wally to be the visitation pastor at American Lutheran Church.  This was a wonderful time of cultivating new friendships and exploring the many cultural benefits of a small city.  But the church and her focus on service to others continued unabated.  Fern was a co-founder of the dynamic and thriving (200 strong) Women of Wisdom (WOW), sang in the choir, played bells, quilted and sewed, and served for 20 years as visitation volunteer and a coordinator of the Ambassadors at Yavapai Regional Medical Center, including being named the center’s volunteer of the year.  Fern also joined Wally in receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award from St. Olaf College, and the University Exemplar Medallion from California Lutheran University. Fern is survived by her beloved husband Wally, sons David (Mary) and Steven (Charlotte), grandchildren Chris, Andrew, Daniel, Kevin, Brian and Lauren, sister-in-law Evelyn Olson, and 10 nieces and nephews and their children. A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, May 25, 2019 at American Lutheran Church in Prescott.  Contributions in honor of Fern Cole may be made to American Lutheran Church, 1085 Scott Drive, Prescott, AZ 86301, or to Good Samaritan Society, Prescott Village, 1030 Scott Drive, Prescott, AZ 86301.