Leta Charmaine Jamieson

Leta Charmaine (Cochran) Jamieson, age 74, passed away on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in Franklin, Tennessee, from complications of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP).

Visitation will be at Boyd Funeral Home in Ashland City, Tennessee, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, with funeral services to follow at 1:00 PM. Burial will be at 2:00 PM at Blue Spring Cemetery. Due to the limited parking at the cemetery, a private burial service is planned for the family. 

Charmaine was born prematurely at Baptist Hospital in Nashville on August 4, 1949. Growing up on the family farm on Bear Wallow Road, she raised tobacco and bush-hogged fields. She attended Cheatham County High School, where she was elected Miss CCHS 1967. She was involved in many high school activities, including class officer her freshman and junior years, and editor of the yearbook. She played on the basketball team with Pat Head Summit, and won the most valuable player award her senior year. She attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her women’s basketball team won the intramural championship at a time when there was no intercollegiate basketball for women. She paid for most of her college education working as a part-time secretary in the Chemistry Department. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree on August 23, 1971. Two days later, she married David Shuler Jamieson, Jr. in Knoxville.

Her life was always busy and varied. She once smuggled Bibles into China. She was active in her church. She was a docent at the Tennessee Governor’s Mansion. Governor Haslam appointed her to an advisory committee of the Tennessee Department of Health. She worked with Kurdish refugees from 1990 to 2020, assisting hundreds of them in integrating into a new world and becoming American citizens. Wherever she went, whoever she met, she made friends.

She was an avid genealogist. After obtaining her Certificate in Archival Management, she was instrumental in helping Cheatham County establish an official county archive. Her research found that she was a descendant of Adam Binkley, who was an early settler in the Sycamore Valley region of Cheatham County and a Revolutionary War lieutenant, so she led a campaign that resulted in the erection and dedication of a monument to Binkley. She was a member of the Old Glory chapter of the daughters of the American Revolution.

Charmaine also loved to travel. She went to Iraq three times, China, India, Africa, and Turkey. Her European travels took her to London, Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Bern, Switzerland. Charmaine was preceded in death by her parents, Paul Cochran and Gracie Lee (Binkley) Cochran; paternal grandparents C. R. and Betty Cothren; maternal grandparents Robert and Rosie Binkley; and a son, John David Jamieson.

She is survived by her husband David Shuler Jamieson Jr, daughters Elizabeth Grace Jamieson, and Anna Kathryn (Brent) Berkompas, grandson Charlie Berkompas, brothers Ralph Cochran, and Stanley Cochran, and sister Miriam Cochran Evans.

The family of Charmaine Cochran wishes to extend our sincere thanks to all the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who provide exceptional support during her journey with PSP. We especially want to thank caregivers Elizabeth, Carmella and Pat.

For those who prefer, a memorial donation to the charity of your choice may be made in lieu of flowers.