St. Dominic’s Cancer Center courier Edward Cole is known affectionately as “Mr. Mighty Fine” among his family, friends and colleagues because his answer to the question “How are you?” is always, “Mighty fine.”
His journey with St. Dominic’s began when he was a college student at Jackson State University. Edward admits he was only attending Jackson State to play baseball, so when the baseball off-season came around in the winter, he took a break from school.
Money was tight, so he decided to look for a job. He interviewed for a job as an orderly and was hired by Sister Trinita Eddington, who was the director of nursing at the time.
A Lesson in Faith and Persistence
He continued to work at St. Dominic’s over the next couple of years while attending JSU, but he did not like that he had to work on the weekends because it interfered with playing baseball with his brother and friends.
When he put in his two weeks’ notice, his grandfather said, “Don’t no moss grow on a moving tree.” After thinking about what his grandfather said, Edward rescinded his notice and continued working at St. Dominic’s.
A short time later, Sister Trinita was decorating at the hospital and asked Edward to go to the old lodge and gather some moss. When he got there, the trees were so full of moss that he didn’t need a ladder to grab it down in armfuls. He thought about what his grandfather had said about moss.
“God was showing me the blessing from heeding my grandfather’s wisdom,” he says. “I am still enjoying the fruit of that moss after 60 years.”
Promotion and Pursuing Baseball
After seven years, Edward was named chief orderly and finally had weekends off to pursue his love of baseball. He even served as the head coach for the hospital’s softball team for a number of years.
Edward later went to work for the newly opened Cancer Center in 1997, transporting patients to and from the hospital and Cancer Center for treatments. He has continued this work as a patient courier over the decades.
A Lifelong Friendship
Edward and Sister Trinita remain friends to this day, 60 years after their first encounter. Sister Trinita is celebrating 65 years with the ministry. Edward even spent many years driving Sister Trinita to the St. Dominic Community Health Clinic when she served as the nurse practitioner.
“Sister T has always been there for me,” Edward says. “Not only as a supervisor but as an encourager. She doesn’t even know how much she encourages me. She always says, ‘Keep the faith.’ I’ve often thought of that in hard times.”
A Legacy of Dedication
Throughout his lifetime, Edward has witnessed many changes at St. Dominic’s and the healthcare industry as a whole, but he says the mission and meeting the needs of the patient have never changed.
“I have no doubt I am where God wants me to be,” he says. “When I am driving to work in the mornings, I see the water tower from a distance on the highway and think about the growth over the years and how much God has blessed this ministry.”
Edward said his work at St. Dominic’s and his “hospital family” give him a purpose to get up and get going each day. “I have been blessed with three families: my family, a church family and a work family. My work family plays a big role in keeping me going every day.”
When asked if he plans to still be working at St. Dominic’s in five years to celebrate his 65th anniversary, he said, “I don’t know. God knows. I’ll check with him and get back to you. As long as he blesses me with good health, I will be here.”
