At the bottom of this post, you will find the obituary for Jim Cochrane, a valued member of the Dewees Community for over 10 years.  I had the good fortune to interview Jim and Jill for the Archives committee on the day after Thanksgiving, and I loved hearing the stories of his first impressions of the island as well as the research he did into the history of Dewees.

His warm intellect and gracious interest in those around him made him a delight to be with.  We will continue to treasure his words about the history of Dewees and the reasons it is such a special place.  It was a privilege to know him.

James C. Cochrane WAYNESVILLE, NC – James C. Cochrane, son of the late Craig P. Cochrane and Hester Hopkins Cochrane, was born in Rochester, New York, on May 28, 1925. He attended public schools in Rochester and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honorary scholastic fraternity and Chi Psi social fraternity. He graduated from Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, with a Bachelor of Law degree and was also a member of the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal. From 1943 until 1946, he was on active duty with the United States Naval Reserve at bases in the United States and the Pacific Ocean. In 1951, he resigned his commission with the rank of Lt. j.g. After graduation from law school, he joined the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore. Later he accepted a position in the Law Department of Eastman Kodak Company, first in Rochester and later in Kingsport, Tennessee. He retired in 1985 as Associate Chief Counsel and Secretary of the Chemicals Division. While in Kingsport, he was a founding member and treasurer of the Shepherd Center of Kingsport, a co-president (with his wife) of Friends of the Kingsport Public Library, and a member of the Kingsport Theatre Guild and the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club. For twenty-five years, he taught Sunday-School at First Broad Street United Methodist Church. In retirement, he and his wife, moved to Charleston, SC, and then to Dewees Island, SC, where he was a member of St. Timothy’s Anglican Catholic Church and a Sunday School teacher. He was a board member of Dewees Utility Corporation and a member of the Property Owners Archives Committee. He was the author of two books of local history, By the People, a history of the Kingsport Public Library, and Dewees, The Island and its People. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Jill McDow Cochrane; two daughters, Melissa Sommerich and her husband, Joe, of Waynesville, and Anna Ting and her husband, Goodwin, of Gaithersburg, MD; one sister, Martha Cochrane Newton and her husband, John, of Melbourne, FL; five grandchildren, Emily Sommerich, Dahlia, Evelyn, Foster and Shelby Ting; one sister-in-law, Jackie McDow Ellington and her husband, Gene, of Lake Norman, NC, and their children, Susan Ellington and Betsy Ellington-Boynton and her husband, Bob, and their children, Jonathan and Jennifer Boynton. The Burial Service and Requiem Mass will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville, NC, on Monday, December 28, at 11:00 a.m. with Fr. Samuel Edwards officiating. At a later date there will be a Requiem Mass at St. Timothy’s Anglican Catholic Church in Charleston, SC. Memorials may be made to St. Timothy’s Anglican Catholic Church, 1900 Parsonage Road, Charleston, SC 29407, or to a charity of the donor’s choice. Wells Funeral Homes & Cremation Services of Waynesville is in charge of arrangements.

Published in Charleston Post & Courier on December 25, 2009

At a later date there will be a Requiem Mass at St. Timothy’s Anglican Catholic Church in Charleston, SC.