Alfred O.C. Cole was born in 1925 and was the youngest son of Dr. C.E. Cooper Cole and Sarah Renwick Tuckett. He had three brothers and one sister, and was married to Jean Murray Cole. They had six children. Cole was an avid researcher and historian. He played a major role in the life and history of Trent University, as Registrar from 1966 to 1987, and as a member of the Department of History. He was a RCAF pilot during World War II, a political reporter for Toronto's Daily Star and Globe and Mail, and he served as an executive assistant in the Ontario Ministry of Public Works at Queen's Park in Toronto. He wrote articles, and books such as A Victorian Snapshot and Trent: The Making of a University, 1957-1987, both published in 1992. He and his wife, Jean, shared the editorship of a number of books including The Illustrated Historical Atlas of Peterborough which was published in 1975 and Kawartha Heritage, published in 1981. Together Jean and Alfred had six children of which one has followed into their literary footsteps. Alfred O.C. Cole died on October 20th, 1996.

Jean Murray Cole (1927- ), former journalist, is a historian and writer with special interest in the history of Peterborough County and in the 19th century fur trade. She was an active member of the Friends of the Bata Library and Jean a long-standing member of the Peterborough Historical Society and served as its president. Cole has published many books including "Exile in Wilderness," a biography of the Hudson's Bay Company Chief Factor Archibald McDonald, and histories of several townships in Peterborough County such as "The Loon Calls: A History of the Township of Chandos". She and her husband, Alfred, shared the editorship of a number of books including "The Illustrated Historical Atlas of Peterborough" which was published in 1975 and "Kawartha Heritage" in 1981.

Alfred O.C. Cole, husband of Jean Murray Cole, joined Trent University as Registrar and secretary of Senate in 1966. He was also a member of the history department and held the position of University Historian. He co-edited the Peterborough Historical Atlas, and in 1992, published "The Making of a University, 1957-1987". Alf Cole died in 1996.