The Asbury Park Press Sunday, January 2, 2000 | ||||||||
| ROBERT L. COCHRAN 74, of BRICK, died Thursday at Brick Hospital. He was a life-long carpenter and woodworker. He worked for Fairchild camera and Instrument Co., Syosset, Long Island, N.Y., for 18 years as a stationary engineer. He also was a manager for America On Wheels Roller Rinks on the East Coast and taught roller-skating for many years. He was a member of the U.S. Amateur Roller-skating Association, and in 1969 he and his wife, Gladys, won a silver medal at the U.S. National Roller-skating Championships. In 1968, they won a bronze medal at the championships. His last job was as a mechanical engineer for the Marriot Corp., retiring in 1980 due to illness. He was a Navy veteran of World War II, winning a Purple Heart in the South Pacific. He also was a member of the Bayshore Corvair Club of New Jersey. Born in New York City, he lived in Bayshore, Long Island, before moving to Brick, 26 years ago. Surviving are his wife Gladys; two sons, Robert L. Jr., of Phoenix, and Brian P. Kemp, Eatontown; a daughter, Dorothy Cochran, Hicksville, Long Island; and a grandson, Robert. Visitation will be held 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 pm. Monday at Laurelton Memorial Funeral Home, 109 Pier Avenue at Route 70, Brick. Funeral services will be held at 8:45 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. | ||
The Last Word.by Roy Buckridge The above column ran in the obituary section of the Asbury Park Press, on Sunday, the 2nd of January. A short synopsis of a mans life, distilled down into a few lines of text. It does not tell the whole story. At least for me it doesn't. I never knew Bob served in the South Pacific, during World War II, or that he received a Purple Heart. My dad, also in the Navy, served there too. Yes, I know there were a lot of GIs involved, but you still wonder if their paths may have crossed. I knew of his involvement in skating, but never knew he and Gladys won medals at the national level. I guess that shows you the kind of person he was, a quiet man. I could go on, but I think Brian said it all, and much better than I can. Yes, he was old, and his health was not that great, but it always seems too early to go. He has passed on to the next level. For what died was only the physical shell, the form we recognized as Bob Cochran. We mourn our lost, but we should celebrate his gain, for he has achieved the next level. He now knows all the answers to all those questions we just dare to think about. For me, there are never any Good-Byes in this life time. Only a little whisper of........... "See you later Bob"
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