NORWAY – Howard Wheeler Cole, 91, of Bethel, a well-known Oxford County businessman and member of the original development group that launched Sunday River Skiway, died Saturday night, Oct. 22, at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway.

He was born in South Paris on May 9, 1914, the son of Roy and Susie (Wheeler) Cole. He was a graduate of Needham High School in Needham, Mass., Hebron Academy and Colgate University.

He grew up in Maine and Massachusetts, before returning to his native state to pursue a lengthy career in the insurance business. He partnered with his uncles, Robert and Stanley Wheeler, in the W.J. Wheeler Insurance Co. of South Paris. He served for many years as president of the company, a family firm doing business in the Oxford County area for more than a century. He retired in 1981.

In addition to his insurance career, he had a lifelong dedication to community service and activities.

He served as a trustee and later chairman of South Paris Savings Bank for several years, before the bank merged with Maine Savings Bank of Portland. He was later a director of that bank. He was a trustee and board chairman for Stephens Memorial Hospital, an institution which he participated in helping establish. He was president of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce and the Bethel Area Development Corp., on which he served as a board trustee for 15 years.

He served with the group from the development corporation that put together the planning and financing for Sunday River Skiway in Newry, now one of the largest destination resorts in the Eastern United States. He was also active in the Maine Insurance Association, serving a term as president.

An avid skier and golfer, his recent activities included keeping a close eye on the development of the new Sunday River Golf Course in Newry. He and his wife, Virginia, were devoted to the Bethel Inn Country Club course as well. He had a lifetime interest in railroading and trains from his boyhood days in South Paris.

He was a member of various Masonic bodies, including the Bethel Lodge and Kora Temple Shrine in Lewiston. He was a member of and served as a deacon of the West Parish Congregational Church in Bethel.

A consummate gentleman, his easygoing manner and good nature earned him friends of all ages.

He was married in Skowhegan on July 18, 1942, to the former Virginia Curtis of Skowhegan, who survives of Bethel. Other survivors include a daughter, Nancy Newsom Farmer and her husband, Larry, of Norway; a son, Curtis W. Cole and wife, Terry, of South Paris; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

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