Generosity turns family’s despair to holiday joy

Jen Lawson

Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 | 11:26 a.m.

After their truck was stolen, the Cochran family feared they wouldn't have enough money to give 5-year-old Monique the Christmas she deserved.

But now, the Cochrans' Las Vegas home is filled with toys, dolls, clothes and videos donated by people who read about the family's plight in the Dec. 20 edition of the Sun.

"I no longer have a living room," Ron Cochran joked on Thursday. "This has restored my faith in the American people. This wasn't something I expected at all. It's so uplifting."

The Cochrans' 1985 Chevrolet Blazer was stolen the night of Dec. 3, and he found it five days later, damaged, in a tow lot. Storage cost $250, and the truck sustained about $400 worth of damage. Cochran could have made the repairs himself, but $1,500 worth of his tools, which were in the truck, were also stolen.

Cochran, 33, his wife, Mary, their daughter Monique and Cochran's 60-year-old mother, Marilyn Johnson, live together and share expenses. The theft of their truck couldn't have come at a worse time. It left them unable to afford the approximately $300 in Christmas gifts for Monique they had on layaway at Wal-Mart.

But thanks to the generosity of citizens from the Las Vegas Valley and beyond, Monique had a merry Christmas after all.

The family received more than $1,000 in cash and checks, and several hundred dollars worth of toys and other goodies for Monique.

Monique was overwhelmed when she saw piles of gifts waiting to be opened on Christmas morning, Johnson said.

"Her eyes were so big, looking from side to side," Johnson said. "She got tired of unwrapping everything, and she said, 'Grandma, can I take a break and play with some of this stuff now?' "

The Cochrans said they also met some remarkable people.

A man in his 80s had his son drive him from Pahrump to the Cochrans' home to drop off a $300 check. He said Monique looked like his great-granddaughter.

"I tried to explain that we had already received enough," Johnson said. "But he said he couldn't sleep at night because he couldn't get her face out of his mind."

Another man, a father of 12, donated $15.

A woman gave the family several hundred dollars, explaining she won the money gambling at Palace Station and wanted to do something good with it.

While the family appreciated the money and gifts, they were more touched by the fact that so many people cared enough to help. Johnson said the generosity of strangers canceled out the despair they felt when "that scumbag" stole the truck.

Johnson said that when she was a corrections officer in Texas she used to "adopt" families who couldn't afford Christmas gifts.

"Never in my life would I have expected to be on the receiving end," she said. "I was so angry when the truck was stolen, but this really turned out to be a good thing. There's a lot of happiness in this house."

On top of all the toys Monique received, Cochran got a present that couldn't be more appropriate: A Club anti-theft device for his truck.