Regena Cummings was born on June 26, 1927 in Prescott, Arkansas. She graduated from Fairview High School in Camden, Arkansas in 1945. After high school she attended Henderson State Teachers’ College, now Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. In 1947 she married Bill Phillips, and they moved to Cleveland, where she got a job as a clerk with Pacific Mutual Life Insurance. In the early 1950's she and Bill moved to Long Beach, California and she worked for Pacific Mutual Life Insurance in downtown Los Angeles. She worked for Pacific Mutual for 27 years, moving with them to their Newport Beach headquarters in 1972.In 1969 she married the love of her life, Robert Judson Cole, in Switzerland. They spent the next thirty five years building a real estate portfolio in Long Beach. They would celebrate the closure of any deal with a trip, frequently to their beloved San Francisco. As their portfolio grew, they began to travel more extensively, and ultimately Regena visited every continent except Antarctica. She left behind thousands of photographs of her travels with family and friends.In 1979 they finally realized their dream of peninsula living, and bought the home in Rolling Hills, where she lived until the very end of her life.As time went on, Bob and Regena began to think about legacy and began plans to support the study of music, as Bob had played piano most of his life. As Bob grew more ill, most of the planning fell to Regena and she became the driving force behind the establishment of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach. Their endowment has and will continue to support scholarships for music students. In 2015, Robert and Regena were awarded honorary doctorates from the university.

Regena was predeceased by her beloved husband Robert in 2004. She is survived by fourteen grateful nieces and nephews, their families, and the many friends and acquaintances whose lives she touched during her own long and remarkable life. She was truly a force of nature, and will be greatly missed by all who knew her.