Cochran Family History and News – BlogCochran.com

Remember the year Grandpa suggested we donate money to the church temple fund?  We decided to do this instead of drawing names for exchanging presents.  We collected money and put it in a jar.  I remember how impressed I was with your generosity and happiness as you saved up your money.  Our jar got filled up and we gave Grandpa a check after counting out all the coins and bills and putting them in the bank.  At Christmas Grandpa told us what happened and gave us copies of these letters.  The Lima Peru Temple President was President Holley who was a member of the Ogden Stake and also served as Stake President.  He knew Grandpa and Grandma well.  I think Bro. and Sis. Parker (Don & Verna) spoke of these families after they returned from their mission. 

These large satin banners show the names of the men who served in World War II from the neighborhood of the Ogden Thirteenth Ward in Ogden, Utah.  Andrew Clarke Baggs and John Robert Baggs are my uncles.  Deane Whitney Baggs is my father. 

  

Gold stars indicate those who died.                   AC (Andrew Clark) Baggs                                 

  

            JR (John Robert) Baggs                            D (Deane Whitney) Baggs

Clarke was drafted in 1941 and was in Basic Training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  He said, “I went to Santa Anna California for flight training school and was assigned to navigation because of my engineering background.  I was washed out of flying school because of being knocked out for 3 days while riding a bike.”  His daughter Sharon wrote, “I remember Dad telling about being a paperboy in Ogden. One day, while making his deliveries, he was struck down by an automobile.  He was taken, unconscious, to the hospital where they announced that he had a serious concussion and they could do nothing for him.  They advised Grandma to take him home to die and save the hospital bill.  Grandma took him home and cared for him.  He was in a coma for 3 days and then semi-conscious for two weeks after that.  When they learned of the concussion in flying school, they told him that after having had a concussion, the skull wasn’t as strong any more, and if he were to be in a plane that had to go into a steep dive, his head would split open like an over-ripe melon.”

Clarke wrote, “From Santa Anna to Bakersfield for a pool of washed out cadets.  Then an interview for O.C.S. Perhaps the best part of that was the fact that the O.C.S. was held in Florida and I was able to get a 3 day delay en route.

“I thumbed a ride from camp to highway 66 and thence north via thumb to Las Vegas, St. George, Provo and finally Ogden. I arrived there 24 hours after I had started.  I called Erma, asked her to meet me and then after a shower, shave, brush up, met Erma and proposed, giving her the diamond.

“After checking our alternatives, we were married in the Salt Lake Temple that evening, going through on the last session of the night… and at 2330, we were married for time and all eternity [June 19, 1942].

“I spent Saturday with my bride and Sunday I was on a train to Florida. After a 3 month training program, Erma came to Miami to meet her 90 day Wonder, and we had a 6 weeks honeymoon at government expense on the beaches of Miami.

“On Halloween Day, we left Miami for the music of New Orleans and 4 days later, Erma went back to Utah and I climbed aboard a troop ship for the Caribbean.

“I was assigned to the 24th Air Depot Repair group stationed on the island of Trinidad, [where we were] on submarine patrol, B.W.I. from October of 1941 to November 1943, and then on to New York, we were bound for the Orient.

“We sailed into New York harbor on Thanksgiving Day.  It was cold and we were in summer sun tans, no coats, a small jacket for the rain.  Six days later we rode a train for a week going from upper New York to San Antonio, Texas, there to train, recoup, refit and prepare for Guam.  Here I was transferred to a Hq. squadron assigned to Kelly Field, and was a (undecipherable word) Ed. Officer School at Lexington, Va. Back to the organization and then sent to Normoyle Field, San Antonio, Texas where [Erma was able to join him and where] Barbara [Jeanne] was born in the shadow of the Alamo.

“We were sent to Los Angeles as Personnel officer and while there I was released from the air force, Victory in Europe, and later Asia, ended the conflict.”

[Sharon’s addition – I think it was while he was stationed in San Antonio that Dad developed a persistent cough that wouldn’t go away.  One day he was doing an errand at the hospital on base and a doctor was there examining a group of men.  Dad hadn’t been able to get in to see a doctor because, so many men had been faking health problems in order to get out of military service, they had been barred from the doctor’s offices.  While he was there in front of the doctor, however, Dad asked him to listen to his chest and see if there was a problem.  The doctor said, “I don’t have to listen to your chest to know what’s wrong with you, I can hear the wheeze in your breathing from here.  You have asthma, soldier, and you’re out of this man’s army.”  Dad went home and told Mom, “I wanted to get out of the Army, but not this way.”]

John tried to enlist but was turned down.  He married Erma Johnson September 16, 1942.   John was drafted September 27, 1943 into the U.S. Army Air Corp.  He went to Fresno, California for his Basic Training and was then transferred to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio for special training.  He was able to move Erma and Tommy there to be with him.  He developed a very serious kidney and bladder infection while in Dayton and was sent to Paterson Field for treatment.

        

On April 24, 1945, John was transferred to Kearns Field, an embarkation port. On May 29th, he left for overseas duty in the South Pacific.  In June they stopped at the island of Leyta for a few days and then landed in Manilla.  The final destination was the island of Biak, just one degree south of the equator, off the coast of New Guinea.  The island was desolate and the natives were dirty and suffered extreme poverty.  After nearly a year on Biak, John was sent to Tokyo, Japan.  In January of 1946, he received an honorable discharge and returned home to his wife and two children.

Deane enrolled at Weber College in September 1940 but he didn’t stay long enough to graduate as he had taken a Civil Service test for a typist position and received his call to start working at Hill Field.  He began work at Hill Field (Hill Air Force Base) July 1, 1941.  Soon he was up to CAF-3 and Chief of the Memorandum Receipt Unit.  Then he was drafted.  He entered the Army Air Corps August 10, 1942 at Fort Douglas, Utah.

After three weeks of basic training at McClellan Field, in Sacramento, California, he was sent to Portland Air Base, Oregon to join the 57th Technical Supply Squadron with the Ninth Air Force for a very short preparation period for overseas duty.  Realizing this, he went to downtown Portland on one of his passes and purchased a set of rings for Rose Barnes.  He had heard of a possibility of the troop train stopping in Ogden and was hoping to present Rose with a diamond engagement ring.  His plans didn’t work out; the train went right through Ogden, so the rings were sent to his sweetheart from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey and they became engaged by mail in October of 1942.

Leaving Camp Kilmer, he went overseas in January of 1943, landing at Casablanca, French Morocco. He served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, Germany and Austria.

During his tour of duty overseas, although subjected to enemy gunfire and aerial strafing, he received no injuries, although he did contract Dengue Fever, a severe tropical disease, while in North Africa and was hospitalized for two or three weeks with complete recovery.  While in Italy he walked through an uncleared German mine field without harm.  He was also in Italy when Mt. Vesuvius erupted during World War II.

During thirty-three months overseas they set up and operated at thirty-two different locations, usually quite close to the front lines of battle. Deane participated in three assault landings: Sicily, Italy, and Southern France, for which he was awarded the bronze arrowhead to wear on the theater campaign ribbon and a medal.  He participated in seven battle areas, including Anzio Beachhead, and the Battle of the Bulge.  While stationed just outside of Rome, Italy, he visited Vatican City and met and talked with Pope Pius XI.

Deane and his friend Norman Hall saved their candy rations and traded their cigarette and other rations for candy.  When they had saved up quite a bit of candy, they gave it to the local children.  It was especially enjoyable when they delivered candy to children at Christmas time in 1943 and 1944.

                                                       Norman and Deane                  

Deane received an honorable discharge as Sergeant from the Army Air Corps on October 24, 1945 after returning home via England on the Queen Mary ocean liner.  Two weeks later on November 7, 1945 he married Rose Marie Barnes in the Salt Lake Temple.

Of course it was gum.  Sweet gummy delicious gum.  I do believe if we had it, we had to flush it when we were done instead of just throwing it away, and it usually had to be wrapped in a tissue.  I remember Mom’s chagrin when Dalin bought us a tub of Dubble Bubble from Goat Savers (as he liked to call it).  We were thrilled (me and Bethani), naturally, and stuffed as many wads of gum in our mouths as we could fit, because you had to get a new piece when the flavor ran out, right?

I’m sure there was some kind of gum rule, but I can’t remember it.  The one rule I remember very clearly is that we were not allowed under any circumstances to buy or eat any kind of candy cigarettes.  My Dad lost his father to lung cancer when he was just 7 years old and he spoke very passionately about this prohibition.  I also remember that there was a candy store in the mall called “Candy Time” that sold gum in the shape of a cigarette rolled in white paper that you could buy for five cents a stick and that if you blew on the end of the stick a puff of white flour would come out the other side.  I remember being very tempted to buy that gum as it was the least expensive thing in the entire candy store (the store only consisted of a long wrap around counter with a cash register in the middle).  Unfortunately, I am also pretty confident that at one time I did buy that candy and in my mind’s eye I see a picture of my Dad, more sad than angry and very disappointed. 

Now that I think about it as an adult, the idea of candy cigarettes is quite appalling—how did candy makers get away with it?!

I’m thinking about this scripture today-Romans 8:16-17,
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
which leads to
D&C 58:3
"Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes…the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow…"
and then
1 Corinthians 2:9
"…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (also D&C 76:10, D&C 133:45)

I would like for the parentals to write about Deanna.  I would like to know more about her and I’m sure I’m not alone.  I will try to resume regular topics after the semester gets underway.

        

These two pictures are from a Family Home Evening we had in March 1971 about temple marriage. Mom wore her wedding dress and veil and Mom and Dad taught us. They told us about their wedding in the Salt Lake Temple 25 1/2 years before. They were married November 7, 1945 two weeks after Dad came home from Europe at the end of WWII. They were engaged September 1942 and he was gone until October 24, 1945. That day in November, they both received their endowments and Mom was sealed to her parents and Dad was proxy for Mom’s brother Lloyd so he could be sealed to them.

By the way, I can’t wear my wedding dress anymore. Doesn’t my mother look great? Don’t you love the smile on my Dad’s face?

Families can be together forever.

Now, I know I said this is a free day, but you are required to post a picture.  Choose any picture you want of any thing and write about that picture.

Unfortunately I have very few memories of 1st grade. I went in the morning. 1st grade was held half a day like Kindergarten in Ogden until about 1960. Mrs. Untersinger was my teacher. She was very nice and I liked her.

Family vehicles I remember:

1952 Willys—used

1995 Ford–used

1962 Mercury Comet—used

1951 Plymouth (Neta & Cherie’s)–used

1956 Ford (Neta’s)

1952 Chevrolet—(Grandma & Grandpa Barnes’s; then Cherie’s and mine) used

1967 Buick Special— new

1978 Buick LeSabre— new

Vehicles I have driven:

1952 Chevrolet

1967 Buick Special–new

1964 Ford Fairlane–used

1965 Dodge Coronet 500–used

1972 Subaru–used

1978 Datsun (Nissan)–used

1978 Chevrolet Impala Wagon–used

1996 Safari van (GMC) – new

1978 Triumph Spitfire–used

1986 Mazda 626–used

1982 BMW—used

1985 Chevrolet Caprice Classic (Zach’s)

1995 Ford Taurus–used

1995 Ford Windstar—used

1987 Toyota SR5 pick-up truck (Bill’s)

1986 Chevrolet Caprice—used

1998 Nissan Maxima (Laresa’s)

 

2003 Nissan Maxima–used

Dad and Mom had a 1952 Willys. It was a green two-door. It’s the first car I remember. Dad made a bed in the back seat, so when we went to the drive-in to see a show, we could lay down and go to sleep when we got tired. About 1962 he bought a 1955 Ford. We were so excited, as children, to have a 4-door car. It had been wrecked and had a bent frame so it didn’t track straight and wore out the back tires. Dad was never happy about it.

1952 Willys; ours was light green 1955 Ford; ours was green

November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was killed, Dad and Mom were test driving cars. Dad had taken the day off work and they picked us up from school at Lorin Farr Elementary in a 1962 Mercury Comet. It was a dark turquoise blue, 6 cylinder, 3 speed on the column and had four doors. That was a nice car. We drove to California to Disneyland in that car in 1967. It didn’t have air conditioning but I don’t think we cared because we didn’t know the difference. I never drove that car, but I remember Mom practicing driving when she started to lose the feeling in her feet. Neta would go with her. I think that is why Dad never bought another stick shift—hoping that Mom could drive again.

  1962 Mercury Comet; ours was 4 door, turquoise

In 1967, Dad traded the Comet in for a new royal blue Buick Special. It was the first automatic transmission car they owned and the first new car they owned and probably the first car they paid for in full at the time of purchase. Dad ordered it from the GM factory in Flint, Michigan and took a bus from Ogden to drive his new car home. He paid cash for it. I don’t remember how much it cost, but he did receive some discount by picking it up at the factory. It had no power steering or air conditioning but it was new and paid for. I got to drive it once in awhile when I was chauffeuring Mom or Rick and Deanna. It was powerful. I actually drove it a little bit on our way to Alabama for Deanna’s heart surgery in August 1972.

ours was a 4 door and royal blue

The first car I drove was Grandma Barnes’s 1952 Chevrolet. By 1967 Grandma had stopped driving, and she gave us the car. It was a 3 speed manual transmission on the column, 2 door, green, dark green roof and light green body, sedan. It had a push button starter on the floor. Cherie took me driving in it so I could learn how to use a clutch. Oh what fun I had finding the friction point on a hill.

ours was a 2 door, dark green roof, light green body

In 1971 or 1972, Dad loaned me $450 to buy a 1964 Ford Fairlane when I was going to college at Weber State. It was a 3 speed manual transmission on the column, 4 door and light blue. It did the job of getting me where I needed to go for quite a while. Mickey called it a piece of junk when he first saw it in 1973. It had a leaking water pump and the front end needed a lot of work. In the winter of 1974, before we were married, we sold it for $160. We used the money to get Grandma’s rocking chair and Mom and Dad’s footstool reupholstered to use in our first apartment.

it was light blue

The next car I drove was Mickey’s 1965 Dodge Coronet 500—car of the year that year. It was a beautiful two door, three speed automatic, silver blue with black leather interior and lots of chrome, which Mickey kept polished. He would often ask me if I noticed anything about the car. Since he always kept it so clean, it was hard to find something different. Usually he would ask me that just after he had polished the inside chrome or polished the tires or washed the windows.

Mickey’s Dodge, March 1973

  This was taken March 1979 from our front porch in Huntington, Utah. We couldn’t get up our driveway because of the mud. It really is blue.

It was sad when we were in an accident and it got hit on the passenger side. On the way home from the Salt Lake Temple April 11, 1974, the night I received my endowment, we were hit by a drunk driver on Harrison Blvd. He came down the hill from the apartments near 40th and Harrison and ran right into us. After that we took it to Hinckley Dodge in Ogden to be repainted. Since they couldn’t match the original aqua blue paint we chose “regal blue firemist” for the paint color. When we moved to Huntington it was difficult for Mickey to see the beating the car took from the muddy roads. He who used to work in a car wash in Oregon and would wash the car every few days. Huntington was dusty or muddy, depending on the time of year. The poor Dodge got washed much less frequently.

In the late summer of 1979, we had the opportunity to borrow a car from our neighbors, Leo and Lynne Davis. They loaned us their little Subaru when we needed another car. It was a 1972 two door, dark green car with a 4 speed manual transmission. We had to hold the gear shift in place in 4th gear with a bungee cord. In October, Heidi and I were coming home from Salt Lake and I fell asleep and drove off the road in Huntington south of the airport. The front got scratched and dented when it went down the ravine. After that we bought the car for $950. It was wrecked in January 1983, when it got hit while Mickey was driving home from school in Castle Dale. It was totaled. I think somebody slid on the ice and ran into him. He was fine, but the car was not.

In April 1983 we drove from Huntington to Ogden to put a new transmission in the Dodge. Mickey and my brother, Rick, removed the manual transmission and installed an automatic transmission. This allowed us to have a bench seat in place of the bucket seats and console in the front, making it a 6 passenger car. Our family had grown and we needed room for someone to sit in front with us and have room in the back for the other three members of the family. The Dodge was a great car and sometimes I miss it. I have a lot of good memories with that car. We finally had to sell it in August 1995 for $100. It was hard to say goodbye and let it go. It’s a shame that Laresa and Bethani never got a chance to drive it.

In May 1984, Mickey ordered parts to rebuild the engine of the Dodge. Neta and Arnie let us use their 1978 Datsun B210 hatchback in May after Arnie finished the semester at BYU and they went to New York for his internship during the summer. We thought we would only need it for the summer while the Dodge was being rebuilt. But the car parts were delayed in coming. We drove it until Nov 8, 1984 when we purchased a 1978 Chevrolet Impala station wagon for $2800 from a man who lived in Logan. Mickey saw it advertised in the newspaper when we were visiting Cherie and Eric and their family.The station wagon was a white, nine passenger Impala, with red interior. It had air conditioning and the children loved having the third seat that gave us the option of folding all the back seats or just the very back seat down. They called the very back of the car, where the third seat is the “back pack.”

This is Zach riding in the Linford’s driveway in Logan, Behind him is Mickey’s Dodge and Neta and Arnie’s white Datsun, September 1983.

This was a great car for us and we have many memories. In July 1991 we loaded it up and drove it to Seattle and on to Mt. St. Helen’s for a Cochran family reunion and camping trip. We had a luggage rack on top. On August 17, 1995, Zach was driving home from work at SoftOne he got hit broadside by a man who ran the stop sign after making a U-turn at 600 East and 600 North.  Fortunately no one was hurt but the station wagon was totaled. Later, we received $900 from the man’s insurance company. We sold it November 1995 for $350.

 

June 4, 1987, our driveway with the station wagon, the Dodge and our dog, Sammy.

July 1991, Cochran family reunion, camping trip to Mt. St. Helen’s. Zach, Laresa, Bethani, Kathy and Heidi.

March 1992, Mom and Dad gave us their 1978 maroon Buick Le Sabre. That really came in handy, because we had Mickey, Heidi and Zachary all working at Pier 54 and we were driving to and from Provo a few times every day. It was a big, safe car that all of the children were able to drive at some time during their teen age years. Zach drove it to Seattle in August 1994 with Mitch Lee and LeeAnn Goodrich. He and Bethani drove it the most. We sold it April 30, 2001 for $600.

 

Dad’s was maroon.

September 1983 Heidi is roller skating on Linford’s driveway in front of

Grandma and Grandpa Baggs’s 1978 Buick LeSabre.

July 1994 we bought a 1985 light blue, four door Mazda 626 from Josh Benson, manager at The Pier (Pier 54 Pizzeria). We bought it for $1000. It needed new tires and some other work, but proved to be a big help because it got such good mileage compared to our other cars, which at the time included the 1965 Dodge, 1978 Chevrolet Impala station wagon, and Grandpa Baggs’s 1978 Buick LeSabre. We sold it in 1999.

In December 1994 Mickey brought home the new SoftOne 1995 GMC Safari van. It was a company van that Terry Stephenson gave it to Mickey to use. It’s very nice. It was white with gray interior. Mickey took it back to Terry in November 1995, when his and Zach’s employment at SoftOne ended.

  

The van, Mazda and wagon in our driveway behind Laresa, Bethani and Zach.

1995, Laresa, Bethani & Zachary & David Baker in front of the Safari van.

Sometime in 1996 or 1997 Mickey paid $200 for a 1982 BMW. He put a windshield and a battery in it and did several other things to repair it. That was a nice little car. Laresa drove it for a while and then we gave it to Zach.

ours was gold/brown

In April 1995 Mickey acquired an orange 1979 Triumph Spitfire convertible in trade for a computer. It was a fun little car. Most of the time we owned it it was parked in the driveway or at some repair place. I think we had trouble getting the title from the owner and it didn’t run for quite awhile.

October 1995, the Triumph and the Mazda

In the spring of 1998 we bought an emerald green, 4-door 1995 Taurus GS for $7,000. It’s a  nice car and I enjoyed driving it. We sold to Heidi December 1999.

 

December 1999 Mickey bought a red 1995 Ford Windstar for $9,000.

  

1991 in front of Matson’s home in Las Vegas

About 2000, Bill Woolf gave Mickey his gray 1987 Toyota SR5 pick-up truck. He won’t let him buy it yet and he retains the title. It’s a good truck for us. We’ve all enjoyed it. There was a sad, bad time in March 2003 when I was picking up Bethani at Provo Towne Center after her shift at Charlotte Russe and backed out, turning too sharp and hitting a concrete post, tearing off part of the front bumper and headlight covering.

    

Zach & Mickey with the floor of Zach’s shed on the back of the truck, July 3, 2008.   

September 24, 2003, Jim and Metta Christensen gave us their 1986 Chevrolet Caprice which we gave to Jay Anderson October 2, 2003.

We were ready for a new car and we didn’t need the van any more. When Zach and Kathleen were expecting their third baby we wanted them to have it. In May 2008, we bought a 4-door, “Merlot” (maroon) 2003 Nissan Maxima  SE for, $11,995. This is a great little car and we are very happy with its reliability, size, power and leather interior. I like it so much I would buy a Nissan again. Just as I was working on finishing this long post, our Maxima got scratched up in the parking lot at the Museum of Art at BYU while Heidi and I were visiting Laresa’s Humanities class, July 19, 2010. A note with information and a phone number was left on the windshield A young woman was trying to park her parent’s Yukon next to us and scratched the right rear fender. It was repaired and repainted a few days later.