Catherine "Kitty" Fisher Cole

Kitty was born and raised in Elizabethtown, North Carolina being the seventh and youngest child of Marion Smith Fisher and George Walton Fisher. She and her dear husband, Jim, have lived in Germany, England, Tennessee, Ohio and Virginia but called North Carolina home. Kitty graduated from St. Mary’s College and attended Meredith College and was working at Liggett and Myers as a spirited tour guide when she met a handsome businessman named Jim Cole. After a saucy bet on the outcome of a Duke

University football game, they entered a romance and formed a partnership that lasted 67 years.

Kitty’s many watercolor paintings display her true talent as an artist and are treasured by those that have them. Always willing to sing in the church choir, her alto voice remained as strong and beautiful as when she reigned as Miss White Lake or Miss Bladen County. Family members treasured handmade gifts from Kitty, often inspired by the local TV cooking and home feature, “The Betty Feezor Show”. Kitty and Jim raised three independent and successful children; Melissa, Catherine, and James. She never missed her children’s dance recitals, ball games, or swim meets and often served as the timer, judge, statistician, or score keeper for their teams. Kitty was a natural athlete that grew up swimming and skiing at White Lake and playing high school basketball. She instilled that same commitment to fitness in her children and that it is a quality they proudly exhibit as adults.

She is survived by her husband, James Coffman Cole; her daughters Melissa Cole Brown and husband, David, of Raleigh; Catherine Cole Baldwin, also of Raleigh; her son, James C. Cole Jr. of Charlotte; and her grandchildren Catherine Hunter ”Katie” Baldwin, Stuart Coffman Brown, and Patrick Walton Brown of Raleigh: as well as many beloved nieces and nephews in the extended Cole and Fisher family who fondly remember her infectious laugh and wonderful sense of humor.

Kitty was preceded in death by her parents and siblings; Dr. George Walton Fisher Jr, Margaret Fisher Hamilton French, Marcus Stewart Fisher, Eloise Fisher Sarvis, Fred Davis Fisher, and James William “Bo” Fisher.

The family is deeply grateful to staff at Arbor Acres for the loving care and affection shown to Kitty during her time living there. A special thanks goes to the Arbor Acres Home Care ladies who helped “Miss Ladybug” through her most recent challenges. The friendship of the Arbor Acres community brightened her days, where she was famously known to whistle a jaunty tune as she travelled its halls.

The family will hold a Celebration of Kitty’s Life at Piner Hall on the campus of Arbor Acres on Wednesday June 14, 2023 at 10:30am. A Service will be held Saturday June 17, 2023 at 12:00 am at Trinity Methodist Church, 901 W. Broad Street Elizabethtown, NC 28337. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Arbor Acres Resident Financial

Assistance Fund in Kitty’s honor.