Portrait of Phillip Cole. IMB Photo

John Phillip Cole, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Liberia, Togo and Kenya, died June 20, 2025, in Eldorado, Illinois. He was 95.  

Phillip was born April 18, 1930, in Oak, Illinois, to the late Samuel J. Cole and Pearl Mae Cole. He graduated from Harrisburg Township High School in Harrisburg, Illinois, and received the Master of Arts from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.  

Upon graduation from college, he enlisted in the Air Force. In March 1956, he received an early release from military duty to return to school. On June 16, 1956, he married Lotella Wesley, a Baptist minister’s daughter he had known in college. Over the next few years, they both taught in local high schools while working toward their master’s degrees, which they received in 1962.  

While seeking missionary appointment, Phillip described their active involvement in the local church: 

“We found that as teachers we were called upon to accomplish things that we were not adequately equipped to do.  Lotella played the piano, even though she had had only a few lessons, taught a Sunday school class, served as W.M.U. president, and functioned as church clerk. I was Sunday school superintendent, Sunday school teacher, and song leader, even though I have never been able to read music and have a ‘poor ear.’ Somehow when you hear ‘the Lord will provide’ you never think of yourself as being the provision.” 

He wrote that, later, “I began to think of possible employment in a Baptist college. Lotella read an article on missionary associates, and we discussed the matter and decided to see if God’s will led in this direction. … We were informed there was an opening which could use the talents of my wife and myself. Here we stand.”  

In 1969, the International Mission Board appointed Phillip and Lotella missionaries to Liberia. He taught at Rick’s Institute, a Liberian Baptist missionary and education convention, for 20 years. They later also served in Togo and Kenya. 

Phillip was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Lotella Wesley Cole.  

A funeral service was held June 28 at Stricklin Funeral Home, Harrisburg, with burial in Sunset Lawn Cemetery.  

Donations in his memory may be made to the Lottie Moon Offering, IMB, 3806 Monument Avenue, Richmond, VA 23230, or online at Generosity Resource Center – IMB Generosity.  

Read an obituary here.