GLORIA "GEE" COCHRAN

Memorial Services for Gloria Cochran, 55, Kilgore are scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2008 at the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home with Pastor James Shepard officiating. Mrs. Cochran passed away Monday, March 10, 2008 in Kilgore.

Mrs. Cochran was born June 23, 1952 in Akron, Ohio to the late Robert William Griffith and Doris Lee Pittman. She attended school in Hudson ISD in Summit County, Ohio where she met her future husband Ron when she was twelve years old. Ron and Gloria were married for 38 years. They moved to Texas in 1978 and were longtime residents of Kilgore. Her husband managed Hickory Fare BBQ in Kilgore where she was also employed. They later bought the restaurant and after it closed in 1984, opened and managed Wagonmaster BBQ for a year. At the restaurants, she was famous for her mile-high meringue pies.

After the restaurants, they ran a small business making hair bows and T-shirts which they would sell at many craft shows in Texas. She was an excellent homemaker and she was also known for her constant baking, especially her homemade rolls and blueberry muffins. Teachers enjoyed the muffins she would take to Leverett's Chapel School. Gloria has a wonderful sense of humor, a beautiful smile, and a joy for life and love for family and friends she treated like family.

She helped build the home in which her family currently resides. Her sons now marvel at the amount of work she did and yet there was always a home-cooked meal for supper. She was the glue that held the family together.

Mrs. Cochran is survived by her husband of 38 years, Ronald Cochran of Kilgore; sons, Ronald William Cochran of Kilgore, John Allen Cochran of Round Rock, Texas and Thomas Wayne Cochran of Longview; daughter, Megan Leigh Cochran of Kilgore; sisters, Connie Hester of Hallsville and Margaret Collier of Canton, Ohio; brothers, Robert William Griffith of Kilgore, Thomas Lane Griffith of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and Glenn Ward Griffith of Stow, Ohio; one grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews.

Please leave online condolences www.raderfuneralhome. com