Jack Oliver Duane Cochran

LOVINGTON - Jack Oliver Duane Cochran, age 90, has left us to rejoin his 9 older siblings, and his beloved wife, Edith (Giffen) Cochran in Heaven. Born to Ernest and Minnie Cochran on May 19, 1920, near Jerseyville, Illinois. He shared this date with one of his sister's, Lois Spencer Bloome, being born on her 19th birthday. At the age of 5 he had his obit in the local paper when he almost died from diphtheria. The family, moved to Carlinville after the death of their father, when Jack was only 15. He attended school with some of his family, his nephew, Ernest Schaaf, son of Freda and Larry Schaaf of Jerseyville was in the same age group. The teacher in the rural school that they attended was his mother's sister. At an early age he was out on his own, moving from one siblings home to another when they needed his help in the fields or with other work. When he worked with his brother, Roe Cochran and brother-in-law, Oscar Saltzman, husband of Diamond of Sullivan, Illinois, they wired many of the homes in this rural community for electricity. At an early age he took on the responsibility of being a husband, when he met and fell in love with Edie Giffen, a resident of Carlinville. They soon left Illinois and traveled to Michigan, where Edie's brothers lived. There they lived, first with Raymond Giffen in Berkley, Michigan, moving later to Highland Park and then into a new housing project in Detroit, called Herman Gardens. Jack got a job with Ex-Cello Corporation but soon was in the army, the year was 1943. It was hard leaving a wife and two daughters but he was on his way to Fort Sheridan, Illinois for training. After serving in the Pacific on Okinawa, and being away from his family for three years he returned to Detroit and his job with Ex-Cello. Where he was a tool and die maker, working there until they closed the facility in the nineteen seventies. They bought a home in Berkley, Michigan in 1950 and lived there at 3997 Buckingham raising their three children, two girls, Jackie and Joanie and their son, Don Cochran. Jack was a very hard working and inventive man and to the surprise of his family and neighbors he raised their house, a small 1 ½ story frame bungalow with an oil heater in the center of the ground floor, put a basement under the house and built an addition onto the back. Then after all this, he bricked the home on the corner of Buckingham and Morrison with gray brick. This process, all together, took several years, but was and is a handsome addition to the neighborhood. Mr. Cochran started in the late fifties to vacation in Florida. The family would travel there by car pulling a small tent trailer, in which they would stay while in Florida. In 1982 they bought a small house on one of the canals and started to spend the winters in a warmer climate. After his wife died in 1987 he resided there alone until the hurricane, Andrew, in March of 1993. During this hurricane the house was flooded with water almost as high as the ceiling. Jack managed to get some important papers and a few pictures out, but many memories were lost. Jack, however, was somewhat of a hero, managing to get a boat and taking several neighbors with him out of the neighborhood to a place of safety, according to an article in the St. Petersburg Times. Mr. Cochran has resided in Florida full time since 1993, when he sold the family home in Berkley. Jack is mourned by his three children, Jacqueline Reynolds of Royal Oak, Michigan, Joan Lind (Gordon) of Gurnee, Illinois, and Donald Cochran (Nancy) of Laramie, Wyoming. He has six grand children, Lynda Reynolds of Royal Oak, Bradley Reynolds of Troy, Chad Lind formally of Evanston, Illinois, Kyle Lind of Chicago, Colleen Lang of Laramie, and Brea Watson of Red Cloud, Nebraska. He is survived by six great grand children and one due in June. Ms Mary Hackett of Florida, a special friend and companion of many years, is mourning his passing with the family. Mr. Cochran was a man of many talents. He didn't have a formal education, but with hard work and strong principals he taught his children that determination makes you a winner in many ways. The phrase, "Jack of all trades" certainly applied to this man. He proved this to his family when his newly purchased sailboat was caught in a storm on their maiden voyage. Funeral services will be in Lovington, Illinois at the McMullin-Young Funeral Home at 11 a.m. May 19, 2011 with visitation one hour before the service. Burial will take place in Hewitt Cemetery a small cemetery just outside of Lovington, where you will find members of his family dating back to the early 1700's. Military rites will be given by the Lovington American Legion Post # 429.Contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society or a charity of the donor's choice. Condolences may be made to the family at www.mcmullinyoung.com Obituary written by family members. Online guest book at http://legacy.com/obituaries/herald-review/