Edith Ferguson Holm

BLOOMINGTON - Edith "Edie" (Ferguson) Holm was born March 25, 1926, in Wellsville, Ohio, to William James Ferguson and Silvia May (McDevitt) Ferguson.


In high school she played basketball, was a member of the Glee Club and Girl Reserves, worked on the school newspaper and yearbook, and was invited to be a member of the National Honor Society. She graduated from Wellsville High School in 1943, and received her RN degree from the Presbyterian Hospital nursing school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1946. She was head nurse on a surgical floor at Presbyterian for two years, and then worked at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, 1948-51.

Edie married John Cochran in 1948. They had four children, and lived in Japan, Michigan and California, before settling in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1959, where they lived for forty years, except for brief stays in Boulder, Colorado, and Nottingham, England. Edie worked at Planned Parenthood for 17 years before retiring in 1993.

In 1969, Edie was presented with the Monroe County Community Council Meritorious Service Award for her volunteer service through Planned Parenthood, St. Mark's Methodist Church, Head Start, Red Cross, and many other organizations in Monroe County. Her philosophy of life was to "live so that my actions and deeds will make this world a better place."



In 1998, Edie married John Holm, and moved with him to Felton, California, for six years. The Holms moved back to Bloomington in 2004, however, to a beautiful home on Somerset Lake. Edie loved nothing more than to entertain, and hosted many get-togethers on the lake for friends and family. She loved "evening cruises" and watching the birds at the feeders outside her windows. John and Edie Holm shared a wonderful 17 years together, the last several in Nashville, Indiana, where she was treated with loving care by the nurses and aides at Brown County Health and Living.

Edie loved to travel, and visited at least a dozen countries in her lifetime, but her favorite place to travel was always England. She was an avid reader and writer. She will be remembered by family and friends as someone who was always there for anyone in need. She is preceded in death by her brother, Homer; and son, Dirk. She is survived by three children, Lynn Cochran of Bloomington, John Cochran of Kansas City, Joel Cochran (Carey) of Charleston, SC; and four grandchildren, Chelsea Schuyler, Anna Lennard, and Beauregard and Maisie Cochran.

Memorial contributions can be made to Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (plannedparenthood.org or 812-336-0219). A memorial Celebration of Life will be at a future date.