It’s been 3-1/2 years since the old house on the corner of College and North 16th came down to clear the way for the construction of a new park. Jeff Cochran, who was killed in Vietnam in the spring of 1968, once lived there with his grandparents.
The veterans memorial park, which will carry his full name, Paul Jeffrey Cochran, is in the stretch run of completion. Earlier this week, a group of seven ROTC cadets were at the developing park to help finish a playground and dig holes for things like park benches and the “peace pole” that’s being donated by the Rotary Club.
Among those on site Monday was Garry Black, Philomath Public Works operations supervisor who served in the Oregon Army National Guard for 26 years.
“It’s cool being an old retired guy and seeing these fresh, young warriors getting ready to embark on their military careers and seeing them being a part of our community,” Black said.
Eric Niemann was Philomath’s mayor in 2019 when the city received the corner lot as a donation from the estate of Cochran’s mother, Beverly Durham.
“The whole idea of this park was to bring the community together and this is an example of that happening,” Niemann said while watching the cadets work on a playground structure.
Also a former member of the military, Niemann has taken a great interest in the park’s development. And it’s important to him that people know the story of the park’s namesake, who graduated with Philomath High’s Class of 1966.
“I gave them a preliminary briefing and brought two charts out that explain Cochran and explain his mother and the gift to the city,” Niemann said. “So they knew before they started what the significance of the park was.”
Jayson Johnson, a criminal justice major at Western Oregon University, was among the Army ROTC cadets who volunteered.
“Hearing the story of Jeff Cochran, it’s a great story — him jumping in with the 101st,” Johnson said. “Me, personally, I’m looking to go airborne-qualified sometime soon.”
Cochran served with the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the “Screaming Eagles.”
“At the very least, hopefully keep the memory of the 101st going strong,” Johnson said when asked about his future, “and all of those people that passed in the line of duty.”
City Manager Chris Workman visited the work site to present the cadets with challenge coins.
“We only give them out to people that go above and beyond and volunteer to help out the city,” Workman said. “These are very highly coveted — it’s a small token of our appreciation that we can extend.”
The park is not officially open but Black said there have been visitors already playing on the equipment, which he said is fine with the city’s disclaimers posted and insurance in place.
A ribbon-cutting and grand opening event will be planned for later this year, perhaps sometime around Memorial Day after a granite memorial is finished and installed. Coming up this weekend, Eagle Scout candidate Owen Thomas will lead a project to put in flower beds. Public Works will be installing a sign.
“All of us were looking to put in some volunteer hours to help out the community,” said Johnson, who is from Gaston. “Once we heard this was going on, all of us wanted to jump on it and help out.”
The ROTC programs at Western Oregon and Oregon State work in conjunction with one another. Johnson said it means a lot to contribute on such projects at a local level.
“We want to be that group that you can reach out to and seek help when necessary because we’re not all just strength and numbers,” Johnson said, mentioning the National Guard and reserves as examples of soldiers helping communities in times of need.
“We love fall term — we were having a lot of recruiting and volunteer events but with the weather and everything, it kind of slowed down, especially with the holidays,” Johnson said. We try to ramp it up a lot when it’s a lot nicer out.”
Rainy weather was just reaching Philomath earlier this week when the cadets were on site working. But in the previous weeks, it had been fairly dry with pleasant temperatures.
“When people reach out, we always try to figure out the logistics side on our side,” Johnson said. “This term, we’ve done a couple of color guard events, most recently at Dallas.”
Dallas is celebrating its 150th township anniversary and ROTC cadets helped with a flag-raising and marching in a parade, Johnson said.
