Loyce Elizabeth Midkiff Cole

Loyce Elizabeth Midkiff Cole was born in Midland County, Texas on June 18, 1929, to T.O. (Dick) Midkiff Jr. and Hattie Maye Midkiff, and passed away peacefully in her home on November 23, 2021. After graduating from Midland High School, she attended North Texas State University. In 1950, she married Gerald E. Cole (Jerry) and raised three children, Doug, Elizabeth Ann, and Sally. She taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for ten years at the First United Methodist Church. She also helped with the Golden Agers Program where she would pick up five seniors for a dinner and program sponsored by the church until the family moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1972. Her family, church, and bridge playing friends were her life. Eventually, when the grandchildren came and went to college, she enjoyed baking all kinds of her specialty cookies and sending them back with them on every chance she could.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, December 6, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. at the First United Methodist church chapel in Midland with a reception to follow.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her beloved husband, Jerry, of 66 years. She is survived by her son Doug Cole (Renee Cole) of Elgin, Oklahoma; daughters Elizabeth Cole of Midland, Texas, and Sally Cole Owen (Chuck Owen) of Midland, Texas; grandchildren Brittany Thompson (Jonathan Thompson), Alexis Harris, Samantha Weiner, and Stanley Weiner; three great grandsons Gabriel and Samson Thompson, and Elam Khan; one brother Richard Midkiff (Sheila Midkiff); one sister Maydelle Jackson; and several nieces and nephews.

The Anchorage Petroleum Wives Club was an entity that welcomed women from the plains of Texas and the south to incorporate them into programs that helped them cope with an environment so foreign to what they knew in the lower forty-eight. Loyce, being the type of person she was, soon made many long-term friendships and involved herself in a multitude of activities. Among those activities were bridge clubs, craft lessons, native crafts studies, cross-country skiing, and luncheons. She made good friends with a girl from Switzerland who taught her how to make ornaments out of plain and different colored straw which were beautiful on her Christmas tree each year. In 1986, upon Jerry’s retirement from Exxon and the Trans Alaskan Pipeline, they moved back to Midland, worked on their place in Gillespie County, traveled, and returned to Anchorage every summer so Jerry could fly fish. They shipped home Jerry’s spoils after each trip and always had enough salmon to treat their Sunday school class to a salmon dinner every September at the church. Loyce and Jerry did this for almost 20 years feeding as many as 120 people at a time.

In Midland, Loyce continued her walking regimen which was thenceforward focused on Midland Park Mall. While waiting for the mall to open, she and a companion walked through the parking lot and picked up aluminum cans and put them in the pick-up to be sold at the recycle center. The proceeds were then sent to the Wounded Warriors and USO. After a reporter for the Midland Reporter Telegram interviewed them, the duo made the front page, and it became “Loyce’s Aluminum Can Ministry”. People brought her cans from all over town.

One other activity from which Loyce received a great deal of gratification from was her ten and half years as a docent at the George W. Bush childhood home. The stories and questions she got from the people and children she gave tours to were the most interesting and cute. One time, she even wrote President Bush to tell him about several and never expected a reply. It was a few months later that she received a letter from the White House.

The love she had for family was inspiring. Up until her very last day, Loyce cooked her famous recipes and casseroles for everyone, took care of her great grandchildren in a reminiscent way that she cared for her grandchildren, sent food to church members, and called to talk and check in on all her friends. She was a best friend to many, and her grandchildren can be quoted as saying “she was truly one of my best friends.”

Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory in Midland.  Online condolences may be made at www.npwelch.com.