Mrs. Cochrane was born to Francis Elizabeth Carr and William Jefferson Blanks at Long Branch Plantation, Halifax County, VA. She was the youngest of her 13 siblings. A longtime, faithful member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Richmond, she was baptized there and also married there by Dr. Aubrey Williams in 1934.

Mrs. Cochrane was involved in teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, and served in the Woman's Missionary Union. She was also an active member in numerous organizations including the Tuckahoe Woman's Club, The Woman's Club, Rockville Woman's Club, Richmond Artists Association, and Rappahannock Art League. She was a founding member of the Tuckahoe Artists Association, as well, and was a talented painter and seamstress. Then there were her roses, which she cultivated with love, that were the inspiration for many of her paintings.

Mrs. Cochrane's connection with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts extends back to the 1970s, and she credits her association with VMFA for fostering her love of painting. The Cochranes have been major supporters of VMFA. Tabernacle Baptist Church and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's Rose Belvidere were other significant beneficiaries of her deep generosity. In addition, she was a patroness to the Richmond Symphony and the Virginia Opera.

Over the years, the Cochranes donated to causes far and wide. They provided for a community center and a library in their home community of Rockville, as well as for the library's expansion and renovation some 20 years later. They also contributed a substantial amount to the Red Cross for relief after Hurricane Katrina struck.

While the Cochranes were building Walnut Hill, their new home in Rockville, during the early 1950's, they salvaged woodwork from the interior of her birthplace after it had been destroyed by a hurricane for use in their Hanover County home. The Cochranes lived there for 51 years and raised three children in Rockville. They also have seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. When the couple moved to Westminster Canterbury in Richmond in 2005, they generously donated Walnut Hill to benefit the Virginia Museum's Fund for American Art, an endowment begun Mr. and Mrs. Cochrane in 1988.

In preparation for her 100th birthday celebration on January 30, 2016, Mrs. Cochrane had assembled a one-woman art exhibit for The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where she was a Board Member and also served on The Council. Instead of an exhibition, the museum will now make that show a tribute to her memory.