Sue Burton Cole

Sue Burton Cole, 94, passed away Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, at Chateau Girardeau.

She was born Margery Sue Combs on Oct. 22, 1922, in Redding, Iowa, to Harley L. and Susie Swift Combs. After the death of her mother in 1929, she was adopted by her maternal Aunt Jessie and Uncle Wesley Burton of Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

Sue studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and later graduated from Kansas University in 1946 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and major in design.

On Oct. 2, 1946, she married Robert O. Cole. Sue and her husband lived in many states including Alaska, Virginia, Florida and Texas. They enjoyed traveling the world together, and Sue continued to travel extensively after his death in 1990. London was her favorite city to visit, and she traveled there often.

Sue loved the theater, art museums and galleries, needle work, growing flowers and all things beautiful.

In 1995, Sue moved from Jackson, Mississippi, to Cape Girardeau to be near family. She continued her lifelong interest in the arts. Her paintings, abstracts with figurative and dreamlike qualities, incorporated collages, charcoal, pen and ink, oil and water colors. Sue was an enthusiastic supporter of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and was a member of its Visual Arts Cooperative for many years. The Arts Council sponsored an exhibit of her work in 2005. On Feb. 17, 2017, she was awarded the “Friend of the Arts Award” for 2016.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and sister, Katherine Williams.

Surviving family members include her brother, Vance (June) Combs of Cape Girardeau and their children, Bonnie (Hal) Majors of Cape Girardeau, Steve (Daphne) Combs of Hillsboro, Missouri, and Mary Jo (Doug) Grinnell of Elizabethtown, Kentucky; and nephews, Bob (Marsha) Cole of Tucson, Arizona, and Jim (Bonnie) Williams of Warrensburg, Missouri.

There are no services planned at this time.

Arrangements accorded by McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.