Tommy Exan Cole

Funeral Service will be at First Baptist Church of Attalla Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 3p.m. with Dr. Roger Willmore and Rev. Mike Barnett officiating. Visitation will be prior to the service at the church from 1p.m. until 3p.m. Private burial will be at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.

Mr. Cole was a beloved father, grandfather, friend and figure in his community and church. His entire life was a ministry dedicated to teaching, serving and modeling the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tom took any opportunity God presented in his life to witness the Gospel, to all people, at any time. His passion for sharing God’s word took him on mission teams to Nigeria, St. Croix, Russia and many locations stateside. He served at various churches including First Baptist Church of Attalla, Meadowbrook Baptist Church, Coosa Valley Baptist, Dwight Baptist, and Deerfoot Baptist Church in Trussville, Alabama.

Professionally, Tom was not only a church musician, deacon and ordained minister of the Baptist faith, but a school teacher as well. He took great pride in the many beloved students he’d had an opportunity to guide and influence over his decades in the Attalla City School System and at Westbrook Christian School. His legacy was so widely felt in his community that the current band facility of Etowah High School is named in his honor, and the Etowah High School Choral Alumni Association presents an annual scholarship in his name.Those preceding Mr. Cole in death includes his parents, Girod Hayes Cole, Sr. and Bertie Walker Cole; and brother, Girod Hayes Cole, Jr. Tommy is survived by his son, Jeremy (Mandy) Cole; grandson, Walker Cole; nephew, Girod (Holly) Cole III; great nephews, Hayes and Pierson Cole; nieces, Marijane Cole, Candia Cole, and Ginger Jaffe; and great niece, Paige (Nick) Okamoto.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to any Regions Bank for donation to the “Etowah High School Choral Alumni Association” Scholarship Fund. Pallbearers will be Girod Cole III, Wayne Lamkin, Ray Moore, Bobby Lankford, Tommy Vickery, Cary Tucker, George Sutko, and Richard Bennett.

Honorary Pallbearers will be the Senior Men’s Sunday School Class at Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville, AL. Special thanks to the caregivers at Trussville Health & Rehab and Lakeside Hospice.