Dustin R. Cole

It is with much sadness and shock that we are announcing the death of our handsome young son, Dustin Richard Cole from coronary heart failure.

Dustin was born on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1974, to Don and Karol Cole in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Dustin graduated from DC Everest High School, where he was an outstanding athlete. He excelled in hockey, football, and track, and was offered many football scholarships. He decided on NW Missouri State but was never really satisfied with the decision because it was a Division II college.

Before his knee injury in his junior year, Division I schools were looking at him. He always played his hardest and did so in everything in his life. He was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age and really had to work in school to keep up. It certainly wasn't that he wasn't intelligent, which he realized later on after graduating at the top of his class from NWTC and then Marion University.

Unfortunately though, he never quite found what he wanted to do in life. He worked in a lot of different jobs and would succeed, but his anxiety and long-time attention deficit never kept him challenged for long.

Dustin had a very tender and generous heart. He especially loved working with kids, which he did at the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay. He also worked at the St. John's Homeless Shelter in winter, but his compassion for those people was too much for him to handle.

His love of nature and animals was obvious too. He would get up at 5 a.m. to take his beloved dog for a walk in any park in town where they would experience quiet walks in nature.

Of course, his first love was always sports and unfortunately, he should have continued playing in some capacity.

Not being tied down to a wife or kids, he would take what he called a sabbatical to some part of the country. He'd pack his bike and off he'd go on a new adventure. He was at the start of such an adventure on Sept 13, 2022, when he got a flat tire in Florida and was overcome with a heart attack.

Dustin was preceded in death by two brothers, Dane Joseph Cole and Doughlas Marvin Cole. He was also preceded by his maternal grandparents, Marv and Katie Wagner and his paternal grandparents, Doug and Phyllis Cole.

No formal services are planned at this time, but his burial will be at the St. Edwards Cemetery in Wagner, by his brothers.