Odell Cochran

Hubert Odell Cochran, Sr., age 90, born March 12, 1932, has moved into his new home in glory with the Everlasting Father, our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and the sweet Holy Spirit. After a long battle with dementia, Odell graduated to heaven on November 25, 2022.

Odell was better known to family and friends as “Odie,” “Dad,” “Pops,” “Paw Paw,” “Toot,” and “Bed Slat.”  He resided at Morning Pointe Assisted Living, Ooltewah, TN, and many of the attendants there called him “Blue Eyes.”

He is preceded in death by his father and mother, Reno and Ophie Cochran; his wife, Selva Ann Cox Cochran; daughter, Carole McNeese; grandson, Brandon McNeese; brothers, Lake, Tate, Letcher, Felton, and Ray Cochran; and sisters, Omajean Ward and Alice Rigney. He survived by his sister, Bonnie Buena Babb; brother, Wm. “Harold” Cochran; children, Hubert Odell (Janet) Cochran, Jr., Crystal Buena (Daniel) Hocker, Harold Lane (Renetta) Cochran, and 11 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

Odell graduated from Dalton High School and played football for the Catamounts from 1946-1949. He received a scholarship from Auburn University to play football, but he never dressed out for the Tigers because he met a pretty young lady named Selva Ann Cox and was married in 1954. He worked in accounting and bookkeeping for several firms in Dalton before taking a management position offered by J.T. Bates to run Bates Furniture Co. in 1953. He became the sole proprietor in 1986 and continued the business that began in 1948. Upon his retirement in 2018 the business sold to his son and daughter-in-law Harold and Renetta Cochran.

Odell enjoyed his hobbies of golf, chess, and horses. With an average handicap of 4, he was a competitive golfer winning several tournaments in the region. When it came to chess he was rated as a Chess Master in the top 10% in the nation. He was Dalton Champion for many years in the mid 70’s and 80’s. People would come to compete from as far as Atlanta. Odell loved horses, owning up to 14 horses at one time.

He jumped into the jungle of politics serving as a Whitfield County Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. His heart was to serve the people of his community.

But Odell’s greatest passion was to see his whole family come to Christ. He attended the East Morris Street Church of God, Ringgold Church of God, and the First Assembly of God in Dalton before answering the Lord’s call to start a new work in Tunnel Hill called Christian Fellowship Assembly of God. He turned his duties over to his son-in-law, Daniel Hocker, and his daughter, Crystal Hocker, in the late 1990’s.

Odell loved God’s Word. He quoted Psalm 24:9-10 quiet often: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.”

Funeral services to celebrate the life of Hubert Odell Cochran will be held at Love Funeral Home at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, November 28, 2022, with Pastor Daniel Hocker officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday prior to the funeral from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.