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U.S. SENATOR THAD COCHRAN OF MISSISSIPPI PASSES AWAY
OXFORD, MISS. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who represented Mississippi in Congress for more than 45 years, passed away peacefully early Thursday morning in Oxford. Services are pending.
Cochran, a Navy veteran who eventually served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee, resigned from the Senate in April 2018 due to health concerns.
Cochran’s family extends its gratitude for the support shown to the Senator by Mississippians over the years.
BIOGRAPHY
U.S. Senator Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi
Thad Cochran was born December 7, 1937, in Pontotoc, Mississippi. He is the son of William Holmes Cochran and Emma Grace Cochran, who were educators in Pontotoc, Tippah, and Hinds counties.
Cochran was strongly influenced by his parents’ careers in education. He and his brother, Nielson, were immersed in academic environments even at young ages. They spent summers at the University of Mississippi as their parents earned Master’s Degrees, and also lived at Blue Mountain College where their parents were members of the faculty.
In 1946, the Cochran family moved to the Byram, a community of Hinds County near Jackson. There was much time devoted to sports, music, the Boy Scouts, and church activities. Thad became an Eagle Scout and helped establish a new scout troop at Spring Ridge Methodist Church. He served as its first Junior Assistant Scout Master.
At Byram High School, Cochran earned varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and tennis. He gave a piano and voice recital his senior year, and was class valedictorian. He was also a member of the 4-H Club and Daniel Memorial Baptist Church.
As a high school junior and senior, Cochran worked in a variety of after school and weekend jobs. His first regular job was at Gunn’s Dairy Bar where he was a “car hop.” He clerked at Nicholson’s Grocery store, cleared right-of-way for Deviney Construction Company, and helped his father and brother on the family’s cattle farm near Utica.
College Education & U.S. Navy Service
In 1955, Cochran enrolled in the school of liberal arts at the University of Mississippi. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in psychology and a minor in political science. He was elected president of his social fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, was a company commander in the Navy ROTC, student body vice president, and was selected for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, a national honorary leadership fraternity. During the summers, he worked as a life guard at Livingston Lake in Jackson.
Congressional Record Vol. 164, No. 50
Senate, March 22, 2018 (Page S1898)
Former Senator Thad Cochran and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith
FAREWELL TO THE SENATE
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to express my deep gratitude for the honor given to me by the people of Mississippi to represent them in Washington.
I leave the Senate with confidence that our enduring Constitution
guards our country from human error, empowers our citizens to achieve
greatness, and shines as a beacon of freedom and liberty for the world.
I am optimistic about the future of our great Nation and in the U.S.
Senate’s role in determining that future.
While in Congress, I have served with nine Presidents during times of
conflict and peace. We have debated policies from trade to taxes to
terrorism. We have engaged in heated arguments. But even in full
disagreement, I believe all our motivations begin at the same point:
the sincere desire to serve our States and country.
No one remains in the House or Senate who was here when I first took
office in January 1973, but I am particularly thankful for the
friendship and leadership of the senior Senator from Vermont, Mr.
Leahy. He and I have fought side by side with each other and sometimes
face to face against each other, always with friendship and respect.
I am also grateful to have served with honorable Senators from my
State. My colleague, Senator Wicker, has been a friend and a strong and
effective advocate for our State. We have worked together not only in
the Senate, but also when he served as a U.S. Representative. Former
Majority Leader Trent Lott continues to be a voice in our national
conversation. And the late John C. Stennis provided a witness to
integrity when I first joined this body. His signature is above my
signature at this desk.
It is a tradition in the Senate, like schoolchildren used to do, to
sign the drawers of our desks. Senator Stennis signed this desk drawer.
He noted the beginning of his service in 1947 and added a dash. He
never filled in the date signifying the end of his Senate service in
- Perhaps there is symbolism there, that our service does not end
when we depart this Chamber.
I have been honored by this body to serve as chairman both of the
Appropriations and Agriculture Committees. I am thankful to my
colleagues, past and present, and to the committee staff for assisting
in crafting responsible funding priorities for our country and for
developing strategic agriculture policy to ensure the best use of our
natural resources to provide affordable and healthy food for our
citizens and people around the world.
I thank my talented and dedicated staff, many of whom have worked for
many years in service to our country. All of us in this body know we
could not achieve our priorities without exceptional staff. I have
staff members who have served the Senate since my first term. I have
one staff member, Doris Wagley, who was already in the office working
the very first day I showed up for work in the House of Representatives
in 1973. Whether they have been here for 45 years or a shorter tenure,
I am grateful for their good assistance.
I ran my first Senate reelection campaign in 1984, largely on
constituent service. I will always be proud of my State staff for their
work on behalf of Mississippians. State staff help us keep our promises
to our veterans, find opportunities for small businesses, ensure the
elderly or infirmed receive care, and cut through bureaucracy. I am
sure members of your State staffs, like my staff, have hearts for their
fellow citizens, regardless of their political affiliation.
All our citizens have the right to be heard and to have a voice in
their government. I believe our job as their servants is not to tell
others what to think or tell others what to do. Our job is to represent
them. I have endeavored to do that the best way I possibly could; and
now the time has come for me to pass the power granted by the people of
Mississippi, the power of service, to someone else.
When John Sharp Williams of Mississippi left the Senate, he delivered
a farewell speech at a dinner organized by the Mississippi Society of
Washington. It is sometimes called the “Mockingbird Speech.” While I
do not share some of the cynicism of that speech, there are sentiments
I can appreciate. Here is an excerpt of that speech given March 3,
1923:
I am going back to Yazoo City and to my old home on a rural
free-delivery route. I want to get up again each morning as I
hear the rooster’s crow . . . and as night and the time for
bed approaches, I will listen to the greatest chorus of
voices that man ever heard, music that will charm me and make
me ready for repose, the voices of my mockingbirds trilling
in the trees. And in that way I want to live the rest of my
life, and when the end comes, I hope to be carried out of the
house by my neighbors and laid to rest among my people. Now,
some may say that is not a very wonderful future, all of this
I have mapped out for myself, but I say there is merit in
calm retirement . . . Perhaps it is a sign that I ought to
retire, for retirement brings repose, and repose allows a
kindly judgment of all things.
I will now return to my beloved Mississippi and my family and friends
there. I will miss this stately Chamber and this city. I will not miss
this power or politics. I will miss people: you, my colleagues. I will
treasure your courtesy and kindness. I trust, if your travels bring you
to Oxford, MS, you will not hesitate to visit and join me for a
refreshment on the porch. We can listen to the mockingbirds together.
Thank you.
Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2018/3/22/senate-section/article/s1892-2?s=2&r=1