Nov. 13, 1978 – Feb. 20, 2019

FERRIDAY — Services for John Bernard Cole, 40, of Natchez, who died Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in Natchez, as a result of a sudden illness, will be 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Patrick’s Church in Ferriday.      
Burial will follow at the Natchez City Cemetery under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home’s Ferriday chapel.
Mr. Cole was born Nov. 13, 1978, on Wildwood Plantation near Clayton, the son of Samuel Dixon Cole III and Carolyn Edith Davis Cole Huffman.
John grew up in Catahoula Parish on Wildwood Plantation. His family has resided in the Natchez area for nine generations. His maternal grandparents farmed in the Catahoula, Tensas and Concordia area and owned the Davis Brothers Gin Company in Clayton. From his paternal grandparents, he was descended from the Coles who settled the Coles Creek area north of Natchez on a Spanish land grant in the 18thcentury.
Cole was a 1996 graduate of the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches, La. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He worked as a survey crew chief and instrument man, civil engineering inspector and brick mason. He was especially proud of his masonry work throughout the Blacksburg, Va., area. Most recently, he worked as a civil engineering inspector for the replacement of the drinking water system throughout the Town of St. Joseph, La.
John was a great son, brother, uncle and friend. He enjoyed reading, history, fishing and socializing with his many friends in historic Natchez. John was a gifted artist and craftsman who worked in stained glass, wood carving and charcoal drawing. He made a legendary chili and grew great tasting tomatoes. He was a kind and generous person who was always eager to help a friend or stranger.
Cole was preceded in death by his father.
Survivors include his mother and husband, Walter Benjamin Huffman Jr.; three brothers, Samuel Dixon Cole IV and wife, Virginia Caroline Seale Cole, of Baton Rouge and Ferriday, Howard Davis Cole and wife, Shelly Frances Brown Cole, and Walter Benjamin Huffman III and wife, Jessica Coco Huffman, all of Baton Rouge; six nieces and nephews, Anna Lane Cole, Samuel Dixon Cole V (Dixon), Gregory Davis Cole, Clara Grace Cole and Ella Kate Cole (Davis) and Bailey Noelle Huffman (Benjamin); and fiancée, Anne Barton Stowers of Natchez.
Pallbearers will be C.J. Barron, Ben Touchstone, Robert Smith, Samuel Stowers Mohon, Ron Burt, Bill Britt, Zach Wakefield and Gregory Davis Cole.
Honorary pallbearer will be Kevin Kuperman.