David Cole

On February 2, 2026, our beloved father, grandfather and friend, David Clark Cole, left this worldly plane to frolic in the stars.

David was born in 1942 Wilmington Delaware . He met his first wife Pamela in 1962. He had just returned from Australia where he and his family had immigrated. David loved Australia and was ready for the outback adventure but his family wasn’t ready for it so they returned to San Francisco. His mother, father, sister and brother returned to Wilmington, Delaware. to the family home. David remained in San Francisco. He loved San Francisco and always wanted to live there. He married Pamela in 1963. At the time, David worked at Hunters Point in the naval shipyard plumbing on submarines and being exposed to asbestos. He had expressed interest of wanting to go to college, but couldn’t do that on the East Coast. When he was a resident of California, it was doable. He quit his full-time job and became a full-time student at San Francisco city College majoring in photography.

David was an exceptional photographer and created portraits that looked inside peoples faces into their souls. He went down to the Bowery and bribed down and out winos to pose for his pictures. He created a collection of very impressive memorable photos that were exhibited as a collection. On the weekends, he worked taking photographs at weddings, but his real forte was portraits.

Before he was drafted, David and Pamela had a lot of years together of doing wonderful fun adventures. Each weekend they would go to Marin and go hiking and then go up to Tamales Bay and get fresh oysters. David could eat raw oysters from the shell. Later, they were into backpacking and backpacked a lot in the Sierras. They spent a two week trip in Toulame Meadows where they didn’t see a human being for two weeks. It was incredibly beautiful. They also spent a week at Dillon Beach sunbathing and playing music and both got sunburns.

It turned out his photography ability and degree spared him from being shipped out to Vietnam and becoming Cannon fodder. After basic training, he was sent to Washington state to be deployed to Vietnam. Pamela flew up and convinced him to talk to his commanding officer understanding he would be much more useful with the photographic skills he had. So they reassigned him to Germany, doing top secret surveillance photography. Pamela was convinced he would not come back from Vietnam alive. On the day he got drafted into the army, Pamela fought hard to convince David to refuse induction as she was an anti-war civil rights activist. But David had a sense of camaraderie and a sense of responsibility for being in the military. He was a very protective person and kind in so many ways and had a sense of duty that compelled him to join the army and fight for his country.

Pamela spent three months in Germany with David while he was stationed there and they traveled through France and Italy. Their favorite city was Florence and they fell in love with the statue by Michelangelo the David. They spent many hours in the presence of that profoundly beautiful creation.

David met his second wife Suzanne at a party the day American astronauts landed on the moon, July 20, 1969, on a blind date in Sausalito, California. They married in 1971 and had their children, Mya in 1972, and Christopher in 1973.

After leaving San Francisco they moved to Atwater, California, to raise their children. David worked at Castle Airforce base as a plumber, working his way up to management. David and Suzanne were involved in many social activities including the Hospital Assistance League putting on musicals. David and Suzanne enjoyed entertaining, skiing, and spending time with their friends. Their children remember lots of family trips camping, beach trips, the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and the smell of David’s pipe tobacco.

David was always one for good food and good drink, and making elaborate gourmet meals on a camping stove. David was a bad ass who fixed everything in the house and all our cars. For several years he had all different types of VW cars, including our beloved van which died a t boned death in Midtown. When Castle AFB closed, David worked for the Army Corp of Engineers, working on the locks in the waterways of the Sacramento area.

When David and Suzanne divorced, David lived alone for almost 30 years making his famous award winning wine, making jewelry and selling his knives at craft fairs in California and Washington. He made friends wherever he went.

His granddaughter was one of his close loves as he was to her. He was able to pass along his photography skills to her as it was something that they loved to do whenever they visited but, then again, anything they did together was nothing but fun. From playing in the pool at his apartments, to binging the Simpsons movie on repeat during the summer, and to sharing the games he loved on the computer; Spending time with Grandpa David was the best. Memories also include road trips to the town Cool and also bigger trips like to Manhattan.

David and his grandson Ean shared a special bond over knives which David collected and sold for decades. Ean was a helper to his grandpa David in the later years, assisting with washing and organizing David's wine bottles for his award winning wine.

David made sure that his grandchildren were always taken care of and made sure they knew they were cared for and loved. He even helped out Kristen when she started college by letting her live with him for a bit so she could find her feet as she was fresh out of high school and moved back to California. His love knew no bounds and it was felt by anyone who knew him. His jokes and comical wit also could find a quiet room boom with laughter. If you know, you know. No holiday would be a holiday without David making an out of pocket joke or comment that left every person in tears from laughter.

David leaves behind his daughter Mya, son Christopher, granddaughter Kristen, grandson Ean, sister Cynthia, as well his second wife Suzanne, who became his companion and caretaker at the end of his life. We miss you so much. We know you are our guardian angel.

Please join us for a Celebration of our amazing David on Sunday, June 7, 2026 1 PM to 330 PM at the West Sacramento Moose Family Center 3240 Jefferson Blvd, West Sacramento, CA 95691. No host bar, cocktails, wine, juice, etc. Corking fee for any outside wine . Appetizers from David’s favorite Italian place but please feel free to bring any food, deserts, shareable food/deserts/baked good you'd like.

Anyone who has photos of David, please email them to Mya at myarcole@gmail.com so I can post them to share.