James Carroll Cochrane - August 24, 1934 - March 1, 2025

James (Jim) of Wichita, KS, originally of Idaho passed away peacefully on March 1, 2025 after a long battle with Parkinson’s and related dementia. Born in Caldwell, Idaho, he was the baby of the family and the only one born in Idaho in a hospital.

He met his wife, Joan Carol (Adams) Cochrane, in Moscow, ID where they were both attending the University of Idaho. She was working at a local movie theater, but it wasn’t the idea of free popcorn that attracted Jim to Joan. It was chemistry…classes. Apparently, Joan was taking chemistry at the university, and Jim was attracted to the fact that Joan could do her chem labs perfectly without measuring a thing. It also didn’t hurt that she was a great cook. Joan said she didn’t like Jim at first. He always said it was his well developed sense of scatological humor that finally wooed her over, but this theory is debated.

Whatever the true reason, the two quickly became inseparable. They married on October 12, 1956. After they married, Jim and Joan enjoyed a secluded summer honeymoon while working in a fire lookout tower atop a forested mountain in Idaho. As anyone could guess, they came down that mountain and they had their first child the following spring. They would go on to have three more children.

Jim provided for his family by teaching in the Boise school district and farming. He and Joan also found success in running several small businesses and with real estate investments. Jim claimed he built his first house, a homestead in Homedale, Idaho, at age six when the Cochrane family moved from Nebraska to Idaho during the depression. That’s when Jim learned he had a passion for construction. Every home he lived in and every building he owned, he remodeled into a masterpiece. Jim was proud of the tangible legacy he left behind in each of these buildings.

Jim was the last of his birth family to pass. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan Adams Cochrane, his daughter Julie [Cochrane] Reimer, his parents Earl and Amy Cochrane, his sister Patsy (Jim) Spofford, brother Byron (Marge) Cochrane, sister Lucia Claire (Willard) Overgaard, and brother Frank (Barbara) Cochrane.

Jim is survived by his 3 remaining children, Candi (Nezih) Durusu of Virginia, grandchildren, Taner and Elise; Byron Earl Adams Cochrane (Omana) of New Zealand, grandchildren Adrian and Alaia Adams (Aurora); Lucia Glynn, grandchildren Prism, Crystal, and Dustin; Julie’s children Tara, Devin and Amanda; and daughter Brenda (Bill) Venhaus, grandchildren Ginger, Linsey, and Jamie. Jim is further survived by 22 great grandchildren.

Our family wants to give special thanks to Via Christi Ascension, McLean Village Assisted Living and Long Term Care. They did a wonderful job caring for Jim for the last four years.

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