Richard Wallace Cochran

Richard Wallace "Dick" Cochran, 88, long-time resident of Pioche, Nevada died at his home after a long illness on January 22, 2019. 

A retired bookkeeper, he was born at St. Clair Shores, Michigan on March 20, 1930, the youngest child of Louis Willard and Sophia Fredericka (Mach) Cochran.  His older brother, Willard Alan Cochran of Idaho and sister, Lois Arlene (Cochran) Frank of Michigan survive. 

Dick attended Denby High School in Detroit before enlisting in the US Navy in 1947, serving as a radio and teletype operator.  He was assigned to the USS Vogelgesang and served overseas primarily in French Morocco and the Mediterranean.  Following his honorable discharge in 1952 he was employed as an auto mechanic in Michigan and Arizona where he moved with his family in 1957.  Before settling into accounting as his career field he worked briefly for the US Forest Service, the Southwest Gas Company, and owned Dick C Business Supplies company in Prescott, AZ.  In 1964 he moved to Las Vegas, NV eventually affiliating for a long tenure with the George L. Brown insurance agency there.  In later life he resided in St. Louis, MO, Prescott, AZ and Cadillac, MI before returning to Nevada and retiring at Pioche.

Dick was married and divorced four times.  His wives were Roberta Marie Stephano (died 2012), Zola Blanche (Obrecht) Cline (died 1996), Dona Jean (Macera) Clarke (died 2016) and Beverly Arlene Richardson.  With his first wife he had twin sons, Dr. Richard (Dr. Jennifer) Michael Cochran, of Big Rapids, MI and William Louis Cochran who died in Las Vegas in 1986.  He raised a step-daughter, Veronica Lynn Heath-King of Port Ludlow, WA and adopted a daughter of his third wife, Juliann (McDonald) Hei McMillen of Killeen, TX (died 2008).  Other survivors include his grandsons Michael Patrick (Cochran) Broadhead of Utah, Richard "Ric" Michael Cochran, Jr. of Ohio, and Jonathan Dimiter Cochran of Kansas and great granddaughter, Laila Faye Broadhead of Utah.  He is also survived by a niece and three nephews, Mark Mathew Frank, Patricia Arlene “Patty” (Cochran) Meier, Daniel Louis Cochran, and Chris Richard Frank as well as many cousins and more distant relatives.

Dick was a life-long conservative Republican but later embraced Libertarian causes.  He was a hard-working, principled, sometimes infuriatingly stubborn and scrupulously honest man -- traits that will long be remembered by those who knew him.  He had few hobbies but when he had space and time, he enjoyed growing roses and was especially proud of turning hard, unpromising ground to life with their blooms.

Arrangements were under the care of Southern Nevada Mortuary.

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