Obituaries

Carlisle E. Cochran

Longtime Southold resident Carlisle Evans Cochran, known as “Pep,” died at Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport on May 14. He was 84.

Carlisle “Pep” Evans Cochran

Pep was born on Aug. 15, 1928, to Carlisle and Edith (Thornhill) Cochran at ELIH in Greenport and was christened at First Universalist Church in Southold, which was built by his great-great-grandfather. Pep grew up in Southold and enjoyed clamming, hunting, baseball and collecting arrowheads. He was a Boy Scout, achieving the rank of Life Scout, and graduated from Southold High School in 1946 with varsity letters for basketball and baseball. He joined the Southold Fire Department during World War II at the age of 16. He was captain of Eagle Hook and Ladder Company and chief of the department from 1961 to 1963 and served as a fire commissioner. He had over 65 years of service to the Southold Fire Department.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps from 1946 to 1948, Pep served aboard the USS Midway in the Mediterranean. In 1950, when being recalled to active duty with the Marine Corps, he married Jean Worthington of Riverhead. Upon his return to Southold in 1951, he built his house on Boisseau Avenue, which has undergone several additions, all by his own hand.

Pep worked for Baker and Fickerson Building and Construction and General League of Farmers (GLF) and, at the age of 35, joined the Southold Town Police Department. Pep retired after 26 years as a police sergeant, having earned an associate degree in police science from Suffolk County Community College. During the same time period, he was asked to help Goldsmith Building and Construction for a couple of weeks, which lasted for 17 years.

Pep was a member of American Legion Post 803 and the Mattituck Gun Club. He was a diehard Yankees fan and played softball into his late 50s, pitching for Braun’s Oyster Company. He enjoyed deer hunting upstate and in Nova Scotia, moose hunting in Newfoundland, elk hunting on horseback in British Columbia and duck hunting at home. Additional passions were carving duck decoys in the barn, beekeeping and digging potatoes on Sep’s Southold farm.

Pepper, as his family called him, loved to stop and visit people from Orient to Mattituck. Family members said he was one of a kind — the most honest, loyal, fun-loving guy a friend and family member could have ever been lucky enough to have known. There’s not enough space to list all the kind things he has done over the years, but anyone who knew him could tell you that. In the game of life, our purpose here on earth is supposed to be measured by the people we meet along the way and how we treat them. Well then, Pep Cochran hit a home run. He will be missed by all.

Pep is survived by Jean, his wife of 62 years; his children, Bob, Carlisle Jr. (Ty), Darcy and Janine; his sisters, Martha Beebe of York Haven, Pa., and Barbara Beebe of Cincinnati, Ohio; his grandchildren, Carlisle III, Abigail, Emily and John; and his cat Barney.

The family will receive friends at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold on Friday, May 17, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. On Saturday, May 18, at 9:30 a.m. funeral and firematic services will be conducted by the Rev. George Gaffga and the Southold Fire Department at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Willow Hill Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Southold Fire Department Rescue Squad, Eastern Long Island Hospital or East End Hospice.

This is a paid notice.