 From 1986 until his death, Cochran also chaired the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia in Staunton.Since both Chief Justice John W. Eggleston and Justice Archibald C. Buchanan announced their retirements from the Supreme Court of Appeals on the same day, Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr. had two slots to fill.He had already promised his first appointment to that court to Attorney General Albertis Harrison (who had unsuccessfully defended the Massive Resistance cases in court).