Carroll Dean Cochran

C Dean Cochran

Dean was born in Spartanburg County near Holly Springs in the back of a country store, as the only son of J Walter and Inez Cochran. His family moved to Inman when his dad worked at Inman Mills. He graduated from Inman High School, played football, became an Eagle Scout, and joined the Navy during the Korean War. 

When he returned, he went through Wofford college graduating with a BS degree in math. He worked with Milliken for a while, and then joined the Air Force, where he was part of the missile program in Kansas. 

Following this he joined IBM working with computer programming, and was involved in assisting NASA   to return astronauts, of Apollo 13, to earth.
He continued to work with IBM for about 25 years before taking early retirement, while living in Charlotte. Then he became an apple farmer in Spartanburg County, and later worked on other investment endeavors.

Dean had married while in Inman, and later fathered two sons in Kansas. 
He divorced after about seven years, and due to circumstances was not allowed to raise his children at home, but tried to keep in contact as they grew up, and tried further to develop a relationship with them when they went to college.
He is survived by Marc Dean New, originally Cochran, and his two children Mary Katherine and John Robert. He also is survived by James Walter Cochran, his wife Carrie, and sons David, Daniel, and Matthew. he had two deceased grandchildren, Joseph and Priscilla.

In his later years he moved back to Inman, where he rekindled a relationship with Thelma Jolly, for the last five years of his life. 

During the last years of his life his health was declining steadily, dying from complications of COPD lung disease.

Dean was a humble man, did not like to brag, wanted to treat everyone fairly, and was proud of his Cherokee Indian heritage, as a descendant of his Cherokee great-grandmother. He was always ready to give advice, (whether you wanted it or not). 

Thankfully he trusted in God as his Savior and Lord in 2021, and he said, "God is not done with me, and still has a purpose for my life."  Dad just wanted to find out what God wanted him to do with the rest of his life. Trusting God and Jesus as savior was the most important thing he ever did.

The funeral service will be held in the Seawright Funeral Chapel on Friday, December 22, 2023 at 3:00PM.  Visitation will follow the service.