BANGOR, Maine — Hundreds of people, from children to elders, gathered in Bangor Saturday morning to pay tribute to the life of Galen Cole. The well-known business leader, former Bangor mayor and founder of the Cole Land Transportation Museum died earlier this month at age 94.
Cole came home to Bangor after being wounded in World War Two, then took over the family’s trucking company and built Cole’s Express into a major freight business in New England. In the late 1980’s, instead of retiring, he built the Museum, which has become a very popular destination for visitors and school groups.
Cole also has become well known for promoting and helping veterans. His family says Cole’s foundation also does lots of charitable work supporting education and other causes.
Those who know him best — his children and those who work and volunteer at the Museum — say it was his experience in battle in World War Two that set Galen Cole on the path to helping others. He was one of a dozen soldiers riding in a half-track vehicle when it was hit by a German shell. Cole had changed his spot in the vehicle two days earlier, swapping with another soldier who said he wanted his lucky seat. The soldier died in the attack, while Cole, though wounded, survived.
In 2008, he told that story to Bill Green.
“On the third of April, all five of those fellas were killed instantly and the rest of us were wounded,” Cole said, “And it was then I made a promise to my God that if I came home from that war I would do my best to leave my community and my fellow man better than I found them.”
Cole’s daughter Janet repeated that story at the memorial service, saying his gratitude for surviving, and sense of obligation to the soldiers who died, inspired the work of the rest of his life.
Jim Neville, a retired Marine who has been director of both the Museum and the Cole Family Foundation since 2013, says Cole used those years to make a major contribution to the lives of many people.
“He’s been a force here since the 1950s and was always a force right up until his passing, always a force trying to figure how to make the city and the state better.”
They say before he died, Galen Cole made detailed plans and assembled dedicated funds to allow the museum and foundation to continue their work long into future.