Shirley Graves Cochrane

Shirley Thorton Cochrane, 90 of Charlotte, died November 18, 2015. Shirley was born in Chapel Hill, NC, on March 5, 1925, the daughter of Thorton S. and Margaret White Graves. She grew up in the Chapel Hill area before going on to Agnes Scott College in Georgia. Returning to Chapel Hill after graduation, she worked for five years as the editor at the UNC Press. She married William M. Cochrane and they moved to Washington DC where her husband served as the Senior Advisor to the Senate Rules Committee. In Washington, she shared her knowledge as a founding member of the Capitol Hill Poetry Group and she also taught as a professor at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Education and The Writer's Center. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines, quarterlies, and anthologies. She is the author of numerous poetry books including "Burnsite", "Family & Other Strangers" and "Letters to the Quick/Letters to the Dead". Shirley is survived by two sons: William Daniel Cochrane of Los Angeles, CA, and Thomas McWhorter and wife Janice Jean Cochrane of Mint Hill, NC; and nieces: Carolyn Dillon, Frances Vaughn, and Susan Carney. She is further survived by numerous other relatives and friends. Shirley was preceded in death by her parents and her husband. Her family has given Lowe-Neddo Funeral Home the privilege of caring for them. A celebration of the life, love and blessing of Shirley will be held at 1 PM on Saturday, December 5, 2015. Starting at noon, the family will receive friends and hold services at the funeral home, 4715 Margaret Wallace Road, Mathews, NC. A private burial will be held at a later date at the Chapel Hill Cemetery. In honor of Shirley’s life and loves, memorials in her name would be appreciated to either Agnes College https://give.agnesscott.edu/ or to the ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/ways-to-give FALL OF THE MOURNING DOVE Lord help us! you mourning doves are hanging out with pigeons— did they seduce you with their coos and flashy iridescence? Doves, return to your country meadows with your break-the-heart calls—who will weep for you in this break-their-bones city? Go back to where we left you even though we may never join you— we need to know you're waiting there in your paisley garments like the fine clothes great-aunts wear with cultured pearls and tiny gold earrings amde from Papa's cuff links. You have a position to uphold— don't turn into street birds battling for Popeye thighs tossed on filthy sidewalks. Fly now, with your creaking wings and the whir like a mechanical toy— flee before you become like the gulls invading the Metro stations forgetting the hues of the sea. Published in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Volume 11, Number 4, Fall 2010.

Shirley Graves Cochrane

March 25, 1925 - November 18, 2015