David Griffin Cochran
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Pioneer of aviation in Alaska, Dave Cochran, passed away on November 2 in Soldotna. He was 97. A memorial service will be held at Soldotna Bible Chapel on December 14 at 2 p.m. Arrangements were made by Peninsula Memorial Chapel and interment will be at Kenai Cemetery.
David Griffin Cochran was born September 22, 1922 in Thermopolis, Wyoming to Alfred and Hazel Cochran. He graduated from Thermopolis High School in 1940, then Lincoln Aeronautical Institute in 1943. Mr. Cochran served in the Army during World War II, when he obtained his pilot's license in 1945. He married the former Marjorie Moore on March 2, 1946 in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
After the war, Mr. Cochran worked for flying outfits in Iowa, Wyoming, and Montana. Inspired to do missionary work in Alaska, he completed his education at Montana Institute of the Bible. In 1962, Mr. and Mrs. Cochran and their four children moved up to Alaska. They served as missionaries in Egegik, Nenana, and Talkeetna, before moving to Soldotna in 1968. Mr. Cochran worked as a pilot-mechanic for Missionary Aviation Repair Center at the Soldotna airport.
In forty years with M.A.R.C., Mr. Cochran impacted the lives of aviators and villagers all across Alaska and beyond. In 1991, he flew the first missionary group to enter Russia after the fall of communism. Two years later, when his aircraft engines failed in flight, he performed a textbook ditching into the Bering Sea that resulted in a miraculous rescue. Mr. Cochran was awarded the FAA's Master Mechanic and Master Pilot awards, making him the first dual recipient on the Kenai Peninsula and just the sixth in Alaska history. He retired from M.A.R.C. with 22,000 flight hours in 2008.
Mr. Cochran was a member and served as a deacon for Soldotna Bible Chapel. He also served as a witness to the hundreds of lives impacted by his work. His incredible knowledge of aviation and passion for flying was infectious. Most importantly, the quality of his life equaled that of his namesake, as "A man after God's own heart."
Mr. Cochran was predeceased by his wife of 63 years in 2009. He is survived by sons, Philip (Connie) Cochran and Alan Cochran; daughters, Sue (Mark) Schaafsma and Joyce (Stephan) Keller; grandchildren, Janna (Mark) Reynoso, Clifford (Jessica) Cochran, Larissa (Brandon) Thomas, and Andrew Schaafsma; great-grandsons, Silas, Caleb, and Alexander.