From Beckley (WV) Post-Herald
October 30, 1959

Jerry Brian Cole

Funeral services for Jerry Brian Cole, 19, of 401 Stanley Street will be conducted at 2 p.m.Saturday in the Methodist Temple by the Rev. J.B.F. Yoak, Jr. Burial will be in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens. Cole died at 1:10 a.m., Thursday from an accidently, self-inflicted bullet wound in his right temple. Beckley police said Cole shot himslef in the presence of his friends, Mr. and Mrs. James Lee Broome and his fiancee, Mary Ann Kosco. The accident happened in the kitchen of the Broome home at 2109 S. Kanawha Street at about 11 p.m. Wednesday. Police termed the shooting accidental.

The father of the shooting victim, Alfred L. Cole, termed it, "a simple accident which could happen to anyone." [illegible] account of the accident, three persons saw the shooting - the Broomes and Miss Kosco. Cole and Miss Kosco were planning to get married. The senior Cole said, "The four people were having a friendly card game. They had made some tea and J.B. got up to get a cup of tea." "He saw the new gun (a .22 caliber revovler) lying there and picked up the gun. He told Mary Ann 'if you ever want to get rid of me, all you have to do is pull the trigger.'" "Then he pulled the trigger and accidently shot himself. It was a new gun Broome had bought because prowlers had been reported in the neighbohood." "J.B. fell to the floor and the only words he said were, 'Mary Ann.'" "J.B. was certainly not depressed or worried about anything. He worked in the store (Beckley Super Market) yesterday (Wednesday) and was whistling at his work and happy. He attended classes at Beckley College last night, and got out about 9:30 and he and his girl went to visit Jimmy Broome and his wife." It was just a simple accident which could happen to anyone."

Cole graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1958. He played football at Beckley Junior High School and WWHS.

Survivors other than his father include his mother, Violet Brackman Cole, and two brothers, Larry Cole, a pre-medical student at West Virginia University and A.L. Cole Jr., stationed with the Air Force at Langley Field, Va.

The body will remain at Calfee Funeral Home until one hour prior to services.