The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.
By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
Last Sunday, May 17, the river lost one of its most fervent admirers and participants with the passing of Randall A. “Randy” Cochran II of Rabbit Hash. The upsetting news arrived at Aurora Bend a day later via the river community’s “Sternline Telegraph.”
Although our friendship goes back many years, I knew Randy’s dad first. “Ran” Cochran — the elder Randall — was best known as a photographer for the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. Ran, also a friend of “Cap’n” Betty Blake, perhaps the greatest steamboat promoter since Captain John W. Cannon, was the choice camera jockey for the Greene Line Steamers, Inc., owners of the Steamer DELTA QUEEN.
In 1970, Ran Cochran shot a series of photographs publicizing the officers, staff, and crew of the QUEEN. Fortunately, I was among those featured in the senior Mr. Cochran’s series of portraits authorized by Cap’n Betty.
Like so many of my relationships, after leaving the DELTA QUEEN, young Randy and I met “on the Hill,” in Cincinnati’s picturesque, avant-garde Mt. Adams neighborhood, where many of my former crew members, notably deckhands Terry Wissman and “Crazy Clifford,” congregated.
Over the years, Randy and I often unexpectedly “stumbled on another”– usually at some occasional watering hole, including New Dilly’s in Mt. Adams, Arnold’s at 8th and Main, in downtown Cincinnati, or Mick Noll’S at 6th and Washington Streets in Covington, across the river in Northern Kentucky.
In post-Mt. Adams’ years, I occasionally found myself at one of Randy’s get-togethers at his log cabin near Hamilton Landing on the Ohio River. Close by Randy’s cabin, during the brutal winter of 1977-78, my pal John Combs and I experienced a narrow escape when we refrained from venturing onto the remnants of the frozen river before an unexpected towboat wake caused the clinging ice to break away from the shoreline. Had John and I been foolish enough to succumb to temptation, I wouldn’t be here to relay the tale. (See: The River: Winters are brutal on the river, as ice and cold make for unforgiving waters – NKyTribune)
Had John and I been foolish enough to succumb to temptation, I wouldn’t be here to relay the tale.
On the night of Saturday, May 28, 1977, soon after I arrived at Randy’s Hamilton Landing digs for a special, festive occasion, his desk telephone (Remember those?) rang. Instantly, his countenance changed from a festive mood to grim reality.
“Beverly Hills Supper Club is on fire! I have to leave, now!”
As a photographer for the Kentucky Post newspaper, Randy immediately departed into the night for the seventh-deadliest nightclub fire in the nation’s history. Located in Southgate, less than three miles from downtown Cincinnati, the Beverly Hills fire claimed 165 lives and injured some 200 others.
At the cabin, I waited around hoping the fire wasn’t too serious, but soon after hearing of the intensity of the conflagration, the few of us gathered there drifted back to whence we came.
Randy Cochran loved hunting and the outdoors, especially boats. In fact, he was a boat-builder. Featured in a Kentucky Afield video for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Randy demonstrated his home-built Rollover, or “sneak,” boat.
Quite often, we talked about getting together to build a replica of the Thompson Skiff displayed at the Ohio River Museum at Campus Martius in Marietta, Ohio. Declining health prevented us from fulfilling our dream of building that boat.
Of course, there was so much more than my sketchy recollections concerning the exciting, well-lived life of Randall A. Cochran II — especially his lovely wife of 47 years, Jane Burch Cochran, a friend I knew from the “Hill,” even before Randy and I met — is foremost. Jane, an accomplished Cincinnati-area artist, became a quilt maker with an international clientele, including many followers in Japan.
For Jane, brother Dennis (Johanna) Cochran of Rabbit Hash; two nephews, Christopher and Kevin; Randy’s beloved pets; and countless friends, I send my most sincere condolences at the loss of such a unique and outstanding human being. For a details of Randy’s life and achievements, his obituary can be found on the NKyTribune’s Obituary page.
Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune, sharing his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
Click here to order your Captain Don Sanders’ ‘The River’ now.