NHS Teacher Kevin Cole Was One of the Good Guys
Noblesville High School Spanish teacher Kevin Cole couldn’t imagine teaching anywhere else.
He was supposed to go on a recent school trip to Costa Rica. He was fluent in Spanish, as well as sarcasm, he would say.
Cole was one of the good guys. A teacher who loved to teach and to watch students learn. He loved Noblesville sports and was the voice of Noblesville basketball games.
Honest. Reliable. Hardworking. Humorous. Dependable. These were words used to describe Cole in an October 2019 story on millermedianow.org, the student-run online publication for Noblesville High School and the online home of the Mill Stream, NHS’s student newspaper. In the article, he told his story of being diagnosed with colon cancer in March 2019, and how his own father and grandfather had dealt with the same disease, how he and his wife, Alison, would tell his students and their children, and also he talked about his love for teaching.
Señor Cole, as he was known, never failed to come to class with a positive attitude and a smile on his face, according to his students.
His Twitter handle was @srColeNHS. In November 2020, during the pandemic, he sent out the tweet: “For 27 years I have been proud to call myself a teacher. Thank you students, teachers and admins at Noblesville Schools for your love and support as I fight cancer and teach from home.”
In his 29 years of teaching, 28 years at NHS, Cole was far from the average teacher. Students said he went above and beyond to teach them a different language and ignite their passion to learn. Unfortunately, my daughter, who just finished her sophomore year, will never have the opportunity to have Mr. Cole as her Spanish teacher.
Sadly, I learned from a Noblesville Schools social media post last Saturday that Kevin Cole, a heart attack survivor, had died on Saturday, June 25, after fighting stage 4 colon cancer. He was 53.
Services are at 11 a.m. today at Noblesville First United Methodist Church with Pastor Jill Moffett officiating.
Cole was a 1986 graduate of Carmel High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from Indiana Wesleyan. He was a huge sports fan. He loved IU basketball and football, Cincinnati Reds and the Indianapolis Colts.
Every two years, Cole took a group of Spanish class students on a tour to a Spanish-speaking country. Ten years ago, in 2012, he not only took five NHS students and two NHS teachers, but he took Alison and their daughter, Emily, and son, Alex, on the school’s Costa Rica trip. What great memories they have.
Fellow NHS teacher Bill Kenley just days ago organized a Gofundme.com page “to show love and support in whatever way they could,” for the Cole family in a time of need. As of Friday, there were 535 donations, a total of $43,445, surpassing the $30,000 goal, and messages pouring in, with prayers and thoughts for the family, and memories of Mr. Cole.
“Cole was a fixture in the Hamilton County High School Athletics scene as the Voice of the Millers,” said Jim Inskeep, director of athletics for Carmel Clay Schools. “Mr. Cole left a terrific legacy and impact on students.”
– Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.