Family 'tattoos' together to remember son

For the Cole family of Big Flats, their tattoos serve as a loving tribute to their son, Kevin Cole, who died Oct. 5, 2002, at the age of 12.

Daughter Bethany was the first to memorialize Kevin when she got a tattoo of a red dragon on her shoulder on her birthday from The Mod Squad in Corning. Mark Haley was the tattoo artist. Dragons were one of Kevin's favorite things.

Barbara Cole, Kevin's mother, said she had been opposed to tattoos, but warmed to the idea after Bethany got one. Barbara followed with a tattoo of a sunset with flames on her lower back, a design that included the last original signature of Kevin. She said Keith Russell, formerly of Corning, was the artist.

Next up was Kevin's father, Lee, who got a portrait of Kevin on his upper right arm, a tattoo that captured first place in a Harding Harley-Davidson tattoo contest in Corning. That tattoo, and the ones that followed, were all done by tattoo artist Mike Oureque of Great Island Tattoo studio in Yarmouth, Mass.

Barbara said they choose Oureque, who she said is an award-winning artist, because of his expertise with portraits.

After her first tattoo, Barbara said she got four more: one of her son's baby footprint on her shoulder; a cross with Kevin's name and date of life on her upper right arm; a third on her other shoulder that has butterflies representing all three of her children in the shades of their birthstones, and the fourth, a portrait of Kevin, on her upper left arm, a tattoo just like her husband's.

Lee Cole has even memorialized a family pet. He has a tattoo on his upper left arm of Kevin's dog, named K.C. in honor of Kevin, who died in July 2005.