E. Nelson Cole

Edward Nelson Cole (born Charlotte, North Carolina, March 29, 1937) is a former Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly. A resident of Reidsville, North Carolina, he represented the state's sixty-fifth House district, which includes constituents in Rockingham County, for eight terms.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina (1962), Cole worked as a manager for Ford Motor Company until becoming an auto dealer in 1980. Cole has been active on transportation-related issues, sponsoring a bicycle safety law and being a member of several national transportation groups - the State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Council and the National Conference of State Legislatures standing committee on transportation. As of the 2009-2010 session, he was the co-chairman of the legislature's Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee.

Cole was defeated for re-election to his House seat by conservative independent candidate Bert Jones on November 2, 2010. In the 2012 election, Cole is running to attempt a comeback and return to his former seat.

Ernest Charles Nelson

Ernest Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially Erica, and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially Adenanthos. He is the author or editor of over 24 books and more than 150 research papers (usually signed E. Charles Nelson). He was honorary editor of Archives of Natural History (the journal of the Society for the History of Natural History) between 1999 and 2012, and is honorary editor of Heathers (yearbook of The Heather Society).

Nelson was educated at Portora Royal School (Enniskillen), and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in botany at the Aberystwyth University. He then moved to Australia where he obtained a Ph.D. from the Australian National University (Canberra) in 1975, for his studies into the taxonomy and ecology of Adenanthos. He then returned to Ireland, taking up the position of horticultural taxonomist at the Irish National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin (Dublin). While based in Dublin he was one of the founding members of the Irish Garden Plant Society, chairing the inaugural meeting; he was subsequently made an honorary member. His interest in the history of Irish gardens and their plants continues, and he is co-president, with David Gilliland, of the Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee which he was instrumental in establishing in 1980. He writes frequently on Irish garden history for The Irish garden magazine.