John Cochran

 

John Cochran

Johnny B. Cochran, 77, of Defiance OH, passed away on Sunday, August 2, 2020 at The Rehabilitation Center of Cheraw in South Carolina.   
 

Early Life and Military service

He was born on July 17, 1943 to the late Lee and Rachel (Clevinger) Cochran in Harman, Virginia. John proudly served our country in the U.S. Army from 1960 to 1963. On August 24, 1963 he married Peggy L. (Salyers) Cochran, who preceded him in death on December 28, 2019. Together they had two children, Cynthia (Cochran) Muncey and Pamela Lee (Cochran) McDowell; John also had one son named José from a previous relationship.

Fun Fact: John signed up for military service at age 17 and weighed only 117 lbs.

GM Quality Inspector:

John worked as a Quality Inspector for General Motors foundry in Defiance, OH until his retirement in 1988. In this position he inspected metal castings for defects.

John once remarked that he would smack the end of crankshafts with a hammer, looking for gray metal casting defects that would result in the crankshaft end cracking or shattering and crumbling.

Later in his career he worked second shift and would often cite this as the reason he stayed up later into the night, tinkering with computers and reading articles during his retirement.

He retired at the age of 45 and reinvested all his savings into what would become the Lighthouse Motel, a business he operated with his wife (Peggy Cochran) daughter (Pamela (Cochran) McDowell), and later his son-in-law (Rick McDowell).

John’s Cars

During this period of his life, John also enjoyed owning a 1973 Chevrolet Corvette which he sold to have money for the purchase of their motel (pictured right).

 

Post retirement:

After selling the Lighthouse motel, John and Peggy returned to Defiance Ohio and lived in the Sherwood Forest community.

Fun Fact: On Google Street view, John can be seen mowing the lawn during the day (Pictured Right). This is one of two locations that he can be spotted on google maps, the second being at his later house in Marion, SC. This coincidence is largely due in part to his affinity to working outdoors during his retirement.

 

Hobbies and Faith

He attended Faith Tabernacle Church in Defiance, and was a member of UAW Local #211, and NRA. He enjoyed working on computers, snowmobiling, fishing, boating/jet skiing, and throughout the years, he taught many people how to water ski. He also often enjoyed Geo-Caching with his grandson Caleb McDowell. (Pictured right)

John’s Websites

John also provided web design services in the early to mid-2000’s for his church as well as his daughter’s Karate School he often performed seasonal changes to his websites such as a snowfall during the Christmas season (Pictured Left August 2005 and Right December 2005).

Both of these pictures were sourced via the Wayback Machine on web.archive.org

Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20020810202915/http://www.defnet.com/~dcma/

Another such website that could be found was his personal website JBC where you could find catalogued photographs of events that he was a part of like his mother’s birthday, and the Cochran family reunion (Pictured Right).

Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20050212052916/http://www.defnet.com/~jbc/