Evelyn Clara Shepard Cole of Tempe, Ariz., died peacefully on May 13, 2025. She was the middle child and oldest daughter of five children born to Jane Margaret Kelly, a telephone operator and homemaker, and Leonard Alvin Shepard, a plumber, of Newtown. Ev, as she was called, later Lynn, born August 12, 1924, was the longest lived — 100 years and nine months — of anyone in her family.

At age 15, Lynn became a live-in “mother’s helper” for a family friend. In 1941, at age 16, she graduated from Hawley High School as Salutatorian and received an academic scholarship to attend UConn. Two years later, during WWII, Lynn married US Army Lt. Lawrence Albert Cole of Norwich. While Larry was stationed with the US Army Signal Corps in Hawaii from 1944 to 1946, Lynn and their daughter Carol stayed in Newtown. They lived with her parents, younger sister Lorraine, and younger brother Charlie. Her older brothers were soldiers in the US Army, Bud in Alaska, and Bill a captured POW in Europe.

By 1947, Lynn and Larry had become proud owners of a goat dairy in Montville, Conn. Their second daughter Ann was born that year. Larry was called back to active duty during the Korean War, and the family of four began nomadic times. Lynn packed up and moved the entire household 21 times in the next 15 years. They were fortunate to be stationed in Okinawa and Germany plus all over the USA. Lynn pursued her interest in art, taking classes in oil painting and flower arranging in her “spare time.” She was a leader of Brownies and Girl Scouts, arranged cultural outings for the military wives, and worked in military thrift shops. She was an excellent dinner party hostess.

Lynn continued her education, becoming a computer programmer in 1966. While Larry was stationed at Fort Monroe, Va., Lynn landed her first programming job with a software contractor at Continental Army Command, Ft. Monroe. When she and Larry “retired” to Tucson, Ariz., in 1970, she began her 15-year career in earnest as a computer programmer and systems analyst. She worked for Southern Arizona Bank and Western Bancorp, which later became Wells Fargo, in Tucson and Tempe, Ariz. In her final role with Wells Fargo, Lynn worked as an internal consultant for banking systems, traveling and advising 23 banks in the west USA, including Alaska and Hawaii.

She retired in 1985, and she and Larry promptly began traveling again, visiting every continent except Antarctica. They went on safari in Africa, cruised glaciers in Alaska, and went to Australia in 1986 where they viewed Halley’s Comet by naked eye. Lynn was an enthusiastic contributor to charities that helped men and women of the US Armed Forces, veterans, wildlife and children.

Lynn and Larry were married for 63 years until he passed away in 2006. Lynn did her best to pass on to all her loved ones her adventurous spirit and the idea that with hard work and organization, you, too, could be a Renaissance woman (or man). We are all richer from having known her.

Evelyn gave precious life to two daughters, Carol (Richard Osborne) of Arlington, Va., and Ann Cole Halbert (deceased 2019); two granddaughters, Sharon Osborne (Chris Polidoro) of Eastchester, N.Y., and Nancy Osborne (Ryan Toner) of Drexel Hill, Penn.; and two great-grandsons, Connor and Sean Polidoro of Eastchester, N.Y. She was a gracious and generous aunt to her many nieces and nephews.

Lynn donated her body to medical science. Her cremains will be interred in the Cole family plot in Newtown Village Cemetery later this year. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Lynn’s memory to the USO, United Service Organizations (uso.org).