Nadine Bernice Flickinger Cole was born at home in a blizzard on Jan. 17, 1932, arriving ahead of the doctor at her family’s farm north of Colgate, N.D. She passed away at age 89 in Page, N.D., on July 31, 2021, in the home she had designed for her family while in her early 20s.
Nadine was the youngest of the four children born to “Wils” and Anna B. Flickinger and loved babying newborn lambs, learning resourceful skills from her dad and attending Campfire Girls activities. She and two friends from Colgate formed a singing group when she was in high school and they performed on the WDAY Talent Show broadcast from Page in 1948. She graduated from Colgate High School in 1950 and spent a year studying fashion at the Ray Vogue School of Design in Chicago.
In 1951, Nadine married Wayne Cole of Page in Colgate. They had met when he was her school bus driver and they had their first date roller skating in Hope, N.D. As their children grew, Nadine became Wayne’s right-hand helper at Wayne’s Oil & Supply in Page, a service station and bulk oil dealer. She was the station’s accountant and made many trips to warehouses in Fargo with the family’s Greenbrier van to bring back tires, oil and other supplies for the station. After the station closed, Nadine was a certified nursing assistant at the Arthur Good Samaritan Center for 15 years and also worked as a home health aide in Page and Valley City.
She was an avid flower gardener and accomplished floral arranger, bringing home many flower show awards and for several decades provided the Sunday arrangements and other décor at the Page United Methodist Church. Nadine took up oil painting in the 1960s and kept up her interest in it into her 80s; this including taking part in the Plein Air Paint Out in DeSmet, S.D. just a few years ago.
Nadine was a 59-year member of the Order of Eastern Star and always held an office. She joined in Page (Beatrice Chapter), then in Hope (Fidelity Chapter) and then Finley and Valley City (Woodbine Chapter). In 1959 and 1976, she was the Page chapter’s Worthy Matron. Among the other offices she held were North Dakota Worthy Grand Matron and Grand Representative. She was a 50-year member of TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly).
As her health failed in recent years, Nadine determinedly retained as much independence as she could and clung to the joys of life. Not long ago, when a friend from her church asked how she was doing, she said, “As long as I have music and as long as I have color, I will be all right.”
She is survived by her four children: Janinne Paulson (Gary Plasschaert), Stanley, N.D.; Janell Cole, Bismarck, N.D.; Tom Cole, Buffalo, N.D.; Julie Cole (Ed Wons), Minnetonka, Minn.; grandchildren: Tyra Rolfe, Caleb Paulson, Killian Knapp, Adam Cole and Aaron Cole; seven great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne, in 2015; her brother, Gerald Flickinger; sisters, Eileen Bush and Verona Flickinger; daughter-in-law Barb Cole, and son-in-law Lynn Paulson.
A memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4, 2021 in the First Presbyterian Church of Colgate, N.D.
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