1994: Donald & Betty Cole

Credit: Executive Office of the Governor

Family Name: The Cole Family

 Donald and Betty Cole farm over 1,050 acres in Hampstead. They raise beef cattle and produce feed crops including soybeans, corn and hay. Mr. Cole estimates that a current herd consists of 325-350 dairy steers. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are both members of the Maryland Farm Bureau. They were dairy farmers for 35 years, until six years ago when they left out with the government’s Dairy Termination Program. Mr. Cole served as a director of the Mid-Atlantic Division of Dairymen Incorporated and served on the corporate board of the organization. Mr. Cole is vice chairman of Central Maryland Farm Credit and has been a director for about 12 years. He serves as chairman of the audit committee and is a member of the executive committee. Mr. Cole has also been involved with Southern States directorships. He is a Baltimore County petroleum director for Southern States Cooperative, and has served on the Hampstead Cooperative many times over the years. All of the Cole family’s 4-H involvement was through the Baltimore County 4-H Program, in which each of their three children: Dale, Donna and Dawn were active participants. The Cole family is active in the United Methodist Church where Mr. Cole has been an organist for more than 40 years and Mrs. Cole has been the choir director for 30 years. Mrs. Cole has been a 4-H leader for 28 years and was the one of the original founders of Baltimore County’s Dairy Bowl Contest. She was involved in the extension advisory committee, a member of the Maryland 4-H All Stars, President of the Baltimore County Extension Homemakers, a member of the Maryland Dairy Princess Association Committee and a member of the Junior Committee for the Maryland Holstein Association. In 1989 she was chosen as Baltimore County Extension Pioneer.

If children learn by example, the children of Betty and Donald Cole have had the best kind of example.

Ceremony Date: 2/2/1995