When longtime Winnetka resident Ann Cole heard the young parents in her neighborhood describing the challenges of juggling parenthood alongside working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the octogenarian decided it was time to pull her purple cow out of retirement.
With a bit of assistance from her children and grandchildren, Cole, 83, and the co-author of the 1972 children’s classic “I SAW A PURPLE COW and 100 Other Recipes for Learning” recently launched a website www.purplecowathome.com with hopes that her collection of kid-friendly activities can provide a ray of sunshine to families struggling during these dark days.
“My goodness, this is unlike anything I could every imagine … sometimes I stop and think, ‘is this really happening?” said Cole, a mother of four adult children and grandmother of five.
“I decided I wanted to do something that could help all of these families who are stranded at home together during the pandemic,” said Cole, whose late husband, Dr. Roger Cole, was a renowned pediatric cardiologist.
A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Cole has warm memories of her years at Wellesley College, where she was an art history major before meeting her future husband on a blind date.
“It was love at first sight, and I was so lucky … we were married for 60 years,” said Cole, who graduated with a degree in education after the couple moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where her husband was completing his medical residency.
“I was pregnant with our first child, and I finished my student teaching on a Friday, and the baby was born the following Monday,” Cole said.
The couple and their four children eventually settled in Winnetka, where Cole tutored youngsters staying at Evanston Hospital. She also joined forces with social justice activists who sought to bring educational equity to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Chicago.
“All of the literature was saying that parents are their children’s first teachers, and so many people needed help,” said Cole, who recalled bringing her message and activity books to families as they awaited their children’s medical appointments at neighborhood clinics in Chicago.
Cole also managed to find time to co-author several other children’s activity books, and these days, is spending hours each day on fine-tuning the Purple Cow website, which is getting technical support from her grandson, Alex Radovan, 20, an engineering student at Cal Poly.
“The activities on the website are all absolutely free, and this is an all-volunteer, family effort,” said Cole, whose website features instructions in a recipe-style format for everything from obstacle courses and word games, to art projects and magic tricks.
“I’m hoping families might be willing to try these activities, which will give them a chance to be creative together in the spirit of discovery,” Cole added.
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta
