Obituary

Mr. Larrie Edgar Cochran, 88 of Goodyear, Arizona died 06.06.2021 in Goodyear Arizona. He was born 06.28.32 in Bolivar Missouri to Clarence Edgar Cochran and Mary Frances Cochran (Schaefer).

Through his years with us, he shared many stories of his life- times about him and his brother running the family farm in Guthrie Center, Iowa, and his 8 years he spent serving his country in the United States Navy as a Quality Engineer overseas during the Korean War. After returning to the states, started his career with Ford Motor Company -Tractor division as a Quality Inspector in Des Moines, Iowa and found his true love and soulmate Mary Vandevanter. Her mother reached out to his mother and arranged for Larrie to drive Mary back and forth to school in Des Moines. After a few weeks, he had the courage to ask her out on a date…..they were united in holy matrimony  on October 15, 1960.

His career at Ford took them to Waukee, Iowa where they had their first to children Deborah and Steven. Then an opportunity came with Ford they felt the needed to take and took them to Michigan. Their third child, Monica was born. Larrie was an amazing father, he enjoyed sports and help coach little league. He was a competitive bowler whether it was on a men’s or couples league. He made it a family event.

Larrie loved to golf, remembering the times he would take us kids with him, our hopes was that there was a golf cart involved so we could drive him around but most of the time there wasn’t ….those hills at the golf course in Guthrie Center Iowa….some of us thought he was trying to show that he could keep up with us and we were actually trying to keep up with him. Larrie was always a competitive person, many of nights we would play cards or board games, well lets just say he would win a majority of the time, even up to his passing you could see his mind assessing what move he was going to make or card to play. He was an active member at St. William’s Catholic church, where he would usher during the services, helped at the food bank, and ran Bingo night to raise money for the church.

He celebrated his 30 years and retired from Ford Motor Company. After 33 years of being married to Mary, he laid her to rest on June 9, 1994. They had made plans to retire to Bullhead City, Arizona, so Larrie kept their dreams and moved there in 1997 along with his daughter and granddaughter. He bought his dream car – a convertible Ford Mustang, he was always seen smiling when he drove it.

Larrie continued to enjoy golfing, bowling, and family visits/trips. He always loved spending time with his grandchildren. He did work different jobs to keep him busy. In March 2020, he decided to move to Phoenix, Arizona where he spent the remainder of his life spending time with his family and managing through Covid. Up until the day he passed, he continued to be competitive in card and board games. All that knew Larrie, knew he had a sweet tooth, his favorite part of dinner/supper was dessert mostly likely because his mother was an amazing cook/baker. He followed in his mother footsteps and loved to make fudge and would send it to all his family and friends during the holidays.

He is survived by his daughters, Deborah M. Poole Thompson and Monica L. Rhea, his son, Steven L. Cochran and daughter-in-law Judi Cochran. Larrie is also survived by his grandchildren; Corey Rhea, Brittany Poole, Brandon Rhea, Amanda Cochran, Tyler Rhea, and Austin Rhea and his great-granddaughters, Ellie Rhea and Lydia Rhea. He is preceded in death by his loving wife Mary Teresa Cochran (Vandevanter), his parents Clarence Edgar Cochran and Mary Frances Cochran (Schaefer), his grandson Zachery Steven Cochran, his Brother Carol Cochran and Carol’s wife Barbara Cochran, and his Son-in-law Daryll G Rhea.

A visitation and memorial will be held at 3:00pm on 9^th of June 2021, at Thompson Funeral Chapel 926 South Litchfield Road, Goodyear, Arizona 85338.

Larrie’s ashes will be laid to rest in Milford Cemetery in Milford, Michigan at a later date.