Hayes School of Music

Walton Smith Cole (June 24, 1921- August 6, 2008), was born in Rosemark, Shelby County, Tennessee, to Mary Cassena Smith and John Robinson Cole. He attended the Rosemark Elementary School and Bolton High School in Arlington, Tennessee. At the age of twelve, he started the study of piano with local teachers. In high school, he studied with Herbert Summerfield in Memphis, Tennessee. Cole graduated from high school in 1939 as valedictorian. He then enrolled at Southwestern College in Memphis, Tennessee (now Rhodes College), where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. He studied piano with Myron S. Myers at the Memphis College of Music (the music department of Southwestern). Due to the war years, Cole graduated early–on January 23, 1943.

Cole's service to his country began on April 21, 1943. He spent the next 33 months as a link trainer instructor in Tucson and Marana, Arizona, as a tail gunner on a B-17, and finally as a hospital chaplain's assistant at Buckley Field, Denver, Colorado. In the fall of 1946, he matriculated at the University of Arizona in order to complete the requirements for the Bachelor of Music in performance degree and in 1950 received the Master of Music in performance degree as a piano student of Julia Rebeil. His intense interest in languages, enabled him to win Latin prizes in high school, the French prize at the University of Tucson, and the annual German prize at Southwestern. In addition, he studied Russian language on a Danforth summer grant awarded him in 1961.

A call from Dean J.D. Rankin brought Cole to Appalachian State Teacher's College (now Appalachian State University) in early February 1951. While at Appalachian, he served as keyboard coordinator for twenty-eight years and taught piano, piano class, piano ensemble, piano pedagogy and literature, theory, counterpoint, form and analysis, and introduction to music. He served on the Faculty Senate, the Faculty Welfare and Morale Committee, the Departmental Personnel Committee, the Athletics Committee, the Library Self-Study Committee, and the Artist and Lecture Series Committee. He also served as equal opportunity associate and as chair of the first Fine Arts Festival Committee. He developed the piano pedagogy curriculum for Appalachian and served on various other ad hoc committees.

Walton Cole was married to the late Mary Alva White in 1954. They had two daughters, Mary Virginia ("Ginger") (January 20, 1958-), and Melanie (September 29, 1960-). Ginger attended the University of North Carolina dental school and served there several years as a dental assistant in pedodontics. She is married to Harold Thomas Brewer, formerly of Chapel Hill. The couple lives in Hickory, North Carolina, with their daughter, Ashley Cole (July 18, 1982-). Melanie attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and, in 1986, completed the Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture at Cornell University, where she was a teaching assistant. She is married to James W. Cole, a sculptor, and they live in West Rupert, Vermont. They both are adjunct professors at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Professor Cole was a member of the North Carolina Music Teachers Association and served as district certification chair, district contest-festival chair, adjudicator, local convention chair, treasurer, first vice president, and president. He was a regular participant in the state meetings of the North Carolina Music Educators Association and he is a member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity and of the Pi Kappa Lambda honorary fraternity.

Professor Cole retired from Appalachian State in 1986. In retirement, he gardens, reads, travels, takes pictures, sleeps, and attends cultural events when the notion strikes. In his travels, he has recently been to Alaska and in the fall will join his Scottish extended family for a swim with the dolphins in Orlando. He also volunteers in the outpatient surgery department of Watauga Medical Center, Boone, North Carolina, and was "Volunteer of the Year" in 1995. Professor Cole is active in Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, where he serves on the council and on several teams.

Sources: Appalachian State University files and long association.

- Dr. Richard Howe