Community mourns passing of Elvis Cochran

By Kathryn “Chazz” Hirschfeld
Staff writer
HAMILTON — There are a great many people in Hamilton and throughout Marion County mourning the loss of a great man.
In fact, several people have told us he had so many friends, if we tried to talk to them, “They’d keep you on the phone forever and a day,” and, “If you had to interview everybody who had something good to say about him, you’d be here until the end of time,” and “There’s not enough room in the paper, not even weeks of papers, to list how wonderful he was.”
So, we’ll do our best to share some memories from his family and friends, and those of you who knew Elvis Cochran can continue sharing your stories of a legend who lived among us for 85 years.
Elvis passed on Dec. 29, 2023, which was his mother’s birthday. Elvis dearly loved his mother, Nettie. Of course, he loved his father, Leland, too. He just had a special bond with Nettie, the family said.
And of course, he also loved his wife of nearly 64 years, Ellen. He greatly mourned her passing last April at age 82, and seemed lost without her, his family said. He went into a fairly steep health decline afterward, and was reunited with her just eight months later.
We were alerted to Elvis’ passing by former Journal Record Managing Editor Les Walters.
“Elvis headed up the state trooper office for many years,” he said. “He was a county commissioner, and he was a preacher. He also worked for Kyle (Jackson) at the (Hamilton) Funeral Home, too.
“Important people knew him well. He was a really good man, really well known. He was a good friend of mine and many, many others. Elvis covered a lot of ground in his life.”