Aileen and Roy:
Up from the Sand Hills to the State House
by Mary Cochran Grimes
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Aileen and Roy:
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The dual biography of Aileen and Roy Cochran is a window into the American midwest in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Although this book reads like an Horatio Alger adventure novel, it has also been hailed by scholars for the author's careful attention to historical accuracy and her intimate knowledge of the protagonists, her parents. |
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In Aileen and Roy: Up from the Sand Hills to the State House, Mary Cochran Grimes has traced the classic saga of her maternal and paternal forebears who migrated to frontier Nebraska seeking land and a better life. Despite incredible hardships and poverty both families believed that the American dream could be realized through education.
Because both the rise of the common schools and the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862 which created Land Grant Colleges, such as the University of Nebraska, open to men and women, Mary Grimes’ own parents, Aileen Gantt and Robert LeRoy Cochran, enrolled. There they trained for their respective careers: Aileen as a school teacher, and Roy as a civil engineer. After graduation they were so successful that they indeed rose up to the State House when Roy was elected for three terms as a Democratic Governor (1935-41).But Mary Grimes’ book is about much more than two families; it contains a revealing history of frontier Nebraska, its citizens’ strong sense of community and the state’s turbulent politics. It is also the powerful story of how an open, virtually free educational system produced exceptional leaders in all fields in Nebraska and elsewhere, and advanced the goal of realizing a successful grass-roots American democracy.
Howard Lamar
Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University
Author of The New Encyclopedia of the American West
Mary Grimes, the daughter of former Nebraska governor Robert LeRoy "Roy" Cochran and Aileen (Gantt) Cochran, traces the lives of her parents from their childhood days through their careers of public service. Aileen Gantt was born and raised in North Platte, Lincoln County. Her father was a lawyer, but his death at age forty-nine left his widow and five children with few resources. Roy Cochran grew up in a farm family that struggled to survive during the hard times of the 1890s. His mother died in childbirth when Roy was only two, and the father and the three children relocated to a homestead near the hamlet of Brady, also in Lincoln County.
Despite their families' straitened circumstances, Roy and Aileen sought higher
education and worked to put themselves through the University of Nebraska. After
graduating, both returned to North Platte, Aileen to teach and Roy (with a degree
in Civil Engineering) to run successfully for the office of county engineer.
The couple would meet in 1912. Not long afterwards Aileen was elected to the
first of two terms as Lincoln County superintendent of schools, while Roy gained
appointment as deputy state engineer when Keith Neville of North Platte became
governor in 1917.
Although military service during World War I interrupted Roy's career and the
couple's court-ship, they married in 1919 and Roy resumed employment with the
state public works department. He was appointed state engineer in 1923, a position
he would hold under three governors. In that capacity, he served as secretary
of the commission overseeing construction of Nebraska's new capitol building
and had major responsibility for the development of a viable state highway system
after funds became available through the Federal Aid Highway Act.
The author was a teenager when her father, a Democrat, won election in 1934
to the first of three, two-year terms as Nebraska governor. She chronicles the
many challenges that came with being governor of a rural, agricultural state
during the Great Depression and the New Deal. Aileen Cochran, not content merely
to be at her husband's side during official functions or as hostess of the governor's
mansion, took the lead on several initiatives, including the reauthorization
of the Nebraska Library Commission and the extension of library services into
rural areas.
Rounding out the story of the Cochran governorship are glimpses of life in the governor's mansion, a rambling frame structure that served from 1899 until replaced in 1956-57. Comparatively few Nebraska governors had children living at home during their time in office, which makes the author's perspectives of particular interest.
After leaving office Cochran ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate and then
held a series of federal military and civilian appointments, including as deputy
director of the U.S. economic aid mission to Greece following World War II.
In 1959 he came out of retirement to serve briefly as state engineer under Nebraska
Governor Ralph G. Brooks.
While the author chronicles her parents' admirable qualities and accomplishments,
she is also candid about some of their flaws. Roy Cochran developed a problem
with alcohol that had become severe soon after he left the governor's office.
Aileen Cochran persuaded him to enter a rehabilitation facility in Seattle where,
after treatment. Cochran was able to stop drinking. He remained sober for the
rest of his life.
For those who want to better understand Nebraska, it is helpful to learn more
about those who have left their mark on the state. Despite her intimate connection
to her subjects, the author has used her training as a historian to tell her
parents' story in a balanced way.
James E. Potter, Nebraska State Historical Society
Book Review from Nebraska History, 89 (2), Summer, 2008
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