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Kelly Cochran wasn’t a Bristol Borough native but she surely loved her adopted hometown.
From starting a child care business in the old train station to serving on the Bristol Borough School Board, Cochran made the most of her time in the borough.
Cochran, 56, passed away Tuesday at her Bristol home after a fight with colon cancer that had spread.
The retired teacher owned Nona’s Loving Care Learning Center and enjoyed working in the education field, her family said.
“My wife is all about education. Before she opened the daycare, she was a special education teacher in Philadelphia for students with severe disabilities,” Dave Cochran said.
“Her entire life was about taking care of kids.”
Dave Cochran, her husband, explained the child care center will remain open and continuity plans for the business were already in place.
Living in Philadelphia, Cochran raised her three kids and worked her way up from being the employee of an art business to becoming a teacher in the city. She took classes at Temple University while working and raising her family. While working as a teacher, she continued her education and received her master’s degree.
Eventually, Cochran retired from the Philadelphia School District and opted to run her own business after moving to Bristol, her son Drew Sroka said.
“When we moved here, it was like a light bulb turned on … she put Bristol first,” Sroka said.
A few years back, then-school board member Chuck Groff convinced Cochran to run for a seat.
“I liked what she had to say on Facebook about school district issues and asked her to run for school board,” he said. “She did and got on.”
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Groff said he worked closely with Cochran while on the school board and said she was a close friend who was highly focused on the youth of Bristol.
Cochran and members of the school board and district worked with Bill Pezza and numerous officials in 2014 to get the old boron-laced dirt pile at the site of Snyder-Girotti Elementary School turned into a new playground for kids.
Groff explained the playground is one of Cochran’s legacies in Bristol.
“I would say her loss is one of the greatest to the school district in Bristol,” he said.
Dave Cochran said his wife was diagnosed with cancer in August 2017 but remained active and upbeat.
Her son said his mother didn’t let the diagnosis or treatments bother her and often would have fun on Facebook while undergoing chemotherapy.
Sroka stressed the importance of not waiting to get a colonoscopy.
“She got one at 55 and is not here at 56,” he said.
At the end of May, the American Cancer Society lowered the recommended age to start colon cancer screenings from 50 to 45.
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The move, according to the American Cancer Society, came after newer data has shown the number of colon cancer cases starting in younger adults has increased in recent years.
For Groff, he said he will remember his friend as a tireless advocate for Bristol’s children.
“Her legacy is that she’s all about family and kids,” Dave Cochran said.
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