Audrey Woody Cole, 88, of Hayesville, passed away peacefully surrounded by family Friday, April 23, 2021, in a Hendersonville care facility. She was a native of Clay County and a graduate of Hayesville High School. Audrey had raised her family on military bases throughout the southeast, while her husband served in the U.S. Air Force. She returned to Hayesville in 1977 where she worked as a teaching assistant at Hayesville Elementary School until retiring in 1997.
Audrey loved the mountains and the mountain culture that is so strong in the Shooting Creek Community. She practiced canning, quilting and gardening. Audrey loved her family deeply, not only her immediate family, but her extended family. She was a member of the Shooting Creek Fire Department Auxiliary.
She was the daughter of the late Claude Forrest and Mattie V. Ledford Woody. She was preceded in death by one grandson, Stephen Cole; four sisters, Madge Woody, Doris Lewis, Dorothy Curtis and Mary Clyde Rogers; and two brothers, Carl and Clarence Woody.
Audrey is survived by her loving husband of 70 years, Walter S. Cole, of Hayesville, who she married Jan. 15, 1952; two sons, Lanny Cole and Susan of Cornelius, N.C. and Larry Cole and Patsy, of Etowah, N.C.; two grandchildren, Katherine Long and Paul, of Huntersville, N.C. and Elizabeth Grant and Ian, of Hendersonville, N.C.; two great-grandsons, Chandler Long and William Wesley Grant; and one sister-in-law, Joann Woody. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Monday, April 26 at the Chapel of the Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville, with the Reverend Keith Nuckolls officiating. Interment was in the Eagle Fork Baptist Church Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Mike Woody, Gary Rogers, Norman Schwartz, Bobby Rogers, Reid Woody, Ken Curtis and Paul Long.
The family received friends from 12-1:45 p.m. Monday, April 26 at the Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville, prior to the service.
The family requests memorials be made to the Four Seasons Hospice, 571 S. Allen Road, Flat Rock, N.C. 28731 or to the American Cancer Society at: www.cancer.org.
Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville: www.iviefuneralhome.com was in charge of all arrangements.