A celebration of life and memorial service for Larry Lee Cole will be held Saturday, October 18, 2025, at Heritage Hall, 508 East Bernard Street, in West Columbia. Larry, a 1973 graduate of Columbia High School, passed away peacefully in his West Columbia home August 28, 2025, after a courageous fight with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Larry was 70 years old.
Larry was born April 30, 1955, in La Marque, Texas. He was the eldest of Ed and Helen Cole’s four children. He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward Lee Cole and Helen Camazzola Cole; his brother, Richard Wayne “Duke” Cole; and his brother-in-law, Karl Moody.
He is survived by his wife, Laura Cole; sons, Jim Ed Cole and John Thomas Cole (and wife Caitlyn); brother, Mike Cole (and wife Debbie); and sister, Linda Moody.
Larry grew up on a working ranch in West Columbia where his Daddy Ed Cole was longtime foreman of Frank and Margaret Harris’s T-Diamond Ranch. After graduation from Columbia High School in 1973, Larry attended Wharton County Junior College and later received his bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and worked on his master’s degree at Texas A&M University in College Station.
He met and married Laura Richmond in San Antonio in 1992, with son Jim Ed born in 1995 and John in 1996. The family moved to West Columbia in 1996 and Larry became very active in the community and family events. Larry contributed to the lives of others in so many ways, but being a coach for the FFA and 4-H shooting sports teams was a passion of his.
To carry on this legacy, his family has formed a non-profit, Legado Shooting Sports Foundation (Legado means legacy in Spanish), which will sponsor a scholarship fund in Larry’s honor. The scholarship will help students with entry fees to events and college scholarships for graduating seniors.
More information about the college scholarships honoring Larry Cole’s memory will be available at Saturday’s memorial at Heritage Hall, which will begin at 11 a.m. The memorial service will be at 11:30 a.m., a meal will be served at noon and visitation will continue until 3 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the scholarship fund or to the ALS Society to fund research to find a cure for ALS.
Laura and the Cole family want Larry’s many friends to come celebrate Larry’s life, break bread with them, and share stories with the many friends and family members who will be there Saturday.
Heritage Hall is managed by the Columbia Heritage Foundation Board of Directors.