Terrorist mows down a Utah ‘gem’
Victim active in arts scene
Kurt and Melissa Cochran were thrilled for the trip of a lifetime. The happy couple from Utah travelled to Europe to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and to visit Melissa’s parents in London.
But on Wednesday, the day before they were to return to the U.S., the unthinkable happened.
Kurt was killed by a lone terrorist who plowed his SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near Britain’s Parliament. The attack left Melissa, whose parents are missionaries at London’s Mormon Church, hospitalized with a broken leg, a broken rib and a cut to her head.
Kurt, 54, was a father of two adult sons. He was fun-loving, kind and generous. He had a contagious laugh. The couple had built a recording studio in their home and they ran it together. They were best friends, a loving pair who were always together.
Kurt’s tragic death, thousands of miles from home, shocked friends and family, who had been following their trip through the photos they posted on Facebook. It was Kurt’s first time to Europe.
“Kurt was a gem,” said Emma Dugal, executive director of the Bountiful Davis Art Center, which hosts Summerfest each year. Kurt volunteered at the popular Utah festival, running one of the stages and giving local and international musicians the chance to perform.
“He didn’t put himself in the limelight,” Dugal said. “He worked behind the scenes to really champion musicians and make them sound good, both in his recording studio and the live performance work that he did.
“He was very cool,” Dugal added. “He had that musician bravado. I just loved being around him.”
Kristen Morris was a 37-yearold mother of five when she discovered her love of singing and writing songs six years ago. She was scared to share it publicly but her guitar teacher told her about Kurt and convinced her to record a song at his studio.
“I was clearly terrified,” Morris recalled, “but I went to his house. And instantly, I felt like I had just met two of my best friends.”
As Morris sang, Kurt was looking at her like she was “the most beautiful singer he had ever met,” she added.
He was sincere and authentic and encouraging.
“He did that for anyone who came to his studio because he knew they were sharing things that were sacred to them,” said Morris, who said Kurt was like a brother. “He would listen to me like I was an angel.”
Kurt, who grew up in Maryland, loved the beauty and mountains in Utah.
He and Ryan Miller, a guitarist, became fast friends through Summerfest. Miller last saw Kurt a week before his trip at his studio, where they recorded Rush’s instrumental, “Hope.”
As Miller was leaving, Kurt told his pal that he loved him. “He just loved people,” Miller said, “and he let them know.”