Yvonne A. (Brown) Cole

Yvonne A. Cole, 85, of Marion formally of Manchester, Iowa, passed away on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids.  She was the seventh of eight children born to J. Eugene and Neva (Trump) Brown on January 28, 1939, in Scotia, Nebraska. Yvonne attended K through 12th grade at Scotia Consolidated Schools and graduated from high school in 1957. After graduation she attended air-line school in Omaha, and also worked at New York Life Insurance and Boy’s Town. She later worked for Rockwell Collins as a quality control supervisor in the Manchester plant.

She married Richard Swartz in 1958. They were later divorced. There were four children born to this union. In 1974, Yvonne married Clarence Melchert.  He passed away in 1989. Yvonne and James Cole were married in 1992. They were married for 32 years. After Yvonne and her husband retired, they spent 20 years living in South Carolina and Florida. They returned to Cedar Rapids to live in 2021.

Yvonne enjoyed playing cards, Mah Jong, and dominoes. She liked traveling and cruising with her husband, but she especially liked being with family and friends.

Survivors of Yvonne are her husband, James Cole of Marion; her children, Richard L. Swartz (Teresa), Randall Swartz, Mary White (friend Jerry Gregory) and Ronald Swartz (Penny); stepchildren, Steven Cole (Kelly), Robin Belbot (Wendell), Vicki Melchert Lint, and Brenda Melchert Lodge (David); 20 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Kathy Brown and Aloha Brown Pink (Jim); and brother-in-law, Robert Taylor; and many other loving relatives and friends.

Yvonne was preceded in death by her parents, a son-in-law, Clarence White; a daughter-in-law, Thea Swartz, a granddaughter, Becky White Sheppard; a step grandson, Matthew Bembenek; three brothers, Gary, Larry, and Kenneth Brown; four sisters, Darlene Mattingly, Olive Sowell Gaylor, Connie Winter, and Beverly Taylor; several brothers-in laws, a sister-in-law, a niece and two nephews.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Yvonne A. (Brown) Cole, please visit our floral store.