Carol Ann (Docken) COCHRANE

Tribute to Carol Cochrane:

After a short but courage’s battle with cancer Carol (Docken) Cochrane passed away peacefully at home. Carol leaves behind her husband and best friend of 39 years Mike Cochrane, Daughter Carrie (Adam) Tarita with her second grandchild on the way, Son Brad (Amanda) Cochrane and Grandson William. Six Siblings and numerous nieces and nephews. Carol was predeceased by her Mother Grace and Father Eugene, Mother in-law Phyllis, Brothers Randy and Roddy and nephew Justin.

Carol was born in Edmonton, Alberta at the Misericordia Hospital to Grace and Eugene Docken on March 9, 1958. She was the 7th of 9 Children.  The family resided on the farm in Lindale, Alberta where they lived until a tornado caused damage to the home in 1962 lifting the roof off the home and twisting it. The tornado took out the chicken coop, play house and out house. There were 17 people in the house at the time including an Aunt and cousins, thankfully no one was hurt. In 1966 Carol got Rheumatic fever from which she recovered in hospital. In 1969 the family then moved around a little, first was to Cavanagh, Alberta for about 1 year, next Leduc and then Edmonton, moving back to the farm in 1972. Carol Moved to Edmonton Alberta and lived with her Brother Gary (Denise) and family, shortly after she met Mike Cochrane on a night out at the local bar. In 1977 Carol started working at Westmount Kitchen as a server. Carol married Mike on November 18, 1978. The marriage was blessed with 2 children. Daughter Carrie March 10, 1979 and son Brad November 16, 1983. Shortly after Carrie was born Carol started working for Fortier and Associates which later had a name change to Hofam Catering. Carol enjoyed her job working with family members and made many friends. On occasion Carol had the opportunity to take Carrie to work with her, on one of those occasions Carrie took a nap in a box and was somehow loaded onto the truck for shipment, luckily Carol noticed Carrie was missing and remembered that Carrie had fallen asleep in a box, they had to unload the truck to find the box she was in. Carol loved family, friends and to have a good time. Carol and Mike purchased their first home in Edmonton Alberta in 1979 and Carol continued to work with Hofam Catering. In the Summer of 1984 the family went camping to Cross Lake, Carol had heard there were berries on the trails so decided to take Carrie picking berries which turned into an unplanned overnight stay in woods, as Carrie describes they kept walking in circles and was sure they had passed the same tree many times, but where fortunately found the next morning by search and rescue. In 1990 the family took a trip to Disney land where the family had a wonderful time. The most exciting part of the trip was a day trip to Tijuana where Brad decided to spin around and around a poll and when he let go he was sent flying through a store window, as fate would have Brad was find, window was broken. Carols favorite part of this trip was when she was able to barter with the locals and made many wonderful exciting purchases such as moccasins, vanilla and Tequila.  The family purchased land in Nanaimo in 1991 and in 1992 they made the big move to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island to build their current family home. While building the home Carol and Mike kept Carrie and Brad busy with handfuls of pennies that they would take 2 km down the trail to the rail road tracks and line them up on the tracks, wait for the train to flatten the pennies and then walk back up to the house 2km…this kept the kids busy for a few hours each day. Carol and Mike built a beautiful tiered rock wall in the back yard for her flower Gardens. Carol was an avid Gardener and forever bringing plants, rocks and driftwood home from her travels. Carol loved when friends and family would come to the island, but always cried when they went home. In 1998 Carol made a memorable trip back to Alberta to visit family. She had borrowed her sister Sharon’s vehicle to go visiting one day, while driving highway 2 into Leduc to visit a friend Carol was getting very frustrated with other drivers as she was in a hurry and could not understand why everyone else was driving so slow, unknowingly to Carol, Brad had changed the vehicle speedometer from KMH to MPH. Carol thought she was going 110KMH, but was really going about 180 KMH. In 1993 Carol worked for Woolco until it was bought out by Wal-Mart which is where she worked up until her back injury in August of 2006. On November 15, 2008 Carol’s Daughter was Married to Adam Tarita in Canmore Alberta. Carol made sure she was there, even though Carrie and Adam had planned to Elope. In 2009 Carol was dog sitting Carries dogs which included a litter of pups while Carrie and Adam went to Africa. When they got back they told Carol to pick her pup, she was in love with Jake and he loved her. Jake went everywhere with Carol, he was her little buddy. Carols First Grandchild William George Cochrane was born April 28, 2013 and Carol was over the moon in love. Over the last couple of years spending time with William was her joy. Carol was diagnosed with Cancer in January of 2017 and insisted that Brad and Amanda move forward with the wedding. Carol celebrated Brad and Amanda’s wedding surrounded by family and friends, it was a wonderful time.

Carol will be remembered for loving people deeply and never being afraid to show it. Her ability to always make people feel special to her by her genuine focus and interest in their lives. Listening to every word and asking perfect questions to let you know she was truly devoted to hearing your story. Everyone always came away from a visit with Carol knowing that she truly cared.

Mike, Carrie, Adam, Brad and Amanda would like to thank everyone who came today to celebrate Carol’s life and for all the love they have received during Carol’s illness and after her passing.

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