Retired Air Force Col. Louis B. Cole, the founder and longtime leader of the award-winning West Jefferson High School Junior ROTC program — one of the largest in the country — died on September 21, 1999. He was 82.

Col. Cole was a native of Pampa, Texas and was a resident of Marrero, LA for 28 years. He served in the Air Force for 27 years before retiring in 1971, when he became an aerospace science instructor at West Jefferson. He directed the school's JROTC program for 18 years until his second retirement in 1989.

The West Jefferson program grew to be the largest in the world for three-year high schools, and the fourth largest overall. It has more than 500 members, attracting about one in four students at the school, West Jefferson Principal Lisa Mowen said.

He tapped a need in young people, and he led by example," Mowen said. "He gave them a place to go and a positive group to be part of. He found good people to work with him, and they've kept it going."

The West Jefferson unit won numerous national awards under Cole's direction, and Cole himself was named Outstanding Instructor in 1981 and 1986.

In an unusual step, Jefferson Parish school officials got permission from the Legislature earlier this year to name the school's new JROTC building after Col. Cole. It required an act of the Legislature because Louisiana law prohibits naming a building after a living person.

Col. Cole's main objective was education, and many of the program's cadets won scholarships, said West Jefferson High School senior aerospace science instructor Col, Carroll Fortmayer, whom Col. Cole hired as his replacement. "He's the kind of guy who was always giving to us," Fortmayer said.

Col. Cole also was well-known in Air Force, JROTC and education circles. He taught flight and ground school in the Civilian Pilot Training Program before entering the Army Air Corps in 1943.

"He flew the 'Hump' over Burma in World War II in C-47s and C-46s," delivering supplies to U.S. troops and their allies, Fortmayer said. "I can't remember all the aircraft he's flown."

While still on active duty, Col. Cole flew within a few miles of Mount Everest, across the North Pole and through the debris of a nuclear test explosion to collect samples. Col. Cole was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Air Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

He was a former president of the University of New Orleans chapter of Phi Delta Kappa; commander of the Westwego Senior Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol; president of the World Aerospace Education Organization; and an officer in the Retired Officers Association, the Air Force Association, Daedalians and the Hump Pilots Association.

He is survived by his wife, Leona Lewis Cole; four daughters, Kathryn Buiruss, Jackie and Marvine Cole and Ginger Turner; a sister, Mildred Purvis; and five grandchildren.