I haven’t talked about this on my LiveJournal, but a few of you know that my mother has been challenged by Alzheimer’s the last few years and was diagnosed with lung cancer in January. My brother David, sister Debby, Tom, Tim, and I were all with her when she died peacefully at VistaCare Hospice at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, June 1.
Mother always said that what she most wanted after she died was for her family and friends to celebrate her life. She loved to dance and laugh and especially loved to be the center of attention at a party. The last meal I took her that she really enjoyed was fried catfish, so Lynne is here at The Compound putting together a catfish feast for us all that includes many Southern favorites–cole slaw, fresh corn on the cob, french fries from red potatoes, and HUSHPUPPIES!
It’s possible that Rhonda, Lindsey, Sugar, and Kathy will be by later to help all of us–and more than a half-dozen dogs–laugh and talk and reminisce and celebrate the life of this true Southern belle–born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the fourteenth and youngest child, who later tied her destiny to a soldier just home from World War II, adapting herself and her three children to a life on the move. She’s finally home.
Dorothy Jean Baggett Cochrane
March 4, 1926 to June 1, 2008
For those of you who are e-mailing and calling to ask for more information, we will be having a private graveside ceremony at a later date when her cremated remains will be buried with my father at a military cemetery in Alabama. We would love it if you would make any donations in her memory to VistaCare Hospice Foundation, 701 N. Post Oak, Ste. 101, Houston, TX, 77024, who took such compassionate care of my mother, or to her favorite organization, St. Joseph’s Indian School, Chamberlain, SD, 57326.