CHARLES H. FLYNN HUMANITARIAN AWARD |
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The 1971 Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award
In recognition of "outstanding volunteer leadership" in the Lower Naugatuck Valley
Alice Russ Cochran was the very first winner of the Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award. She was born in Northampton, MA in 1889 and moved to Shelton following here marriage to John Barnard Russ of Greenwich, CT. During World War I, her husband was stationed in Philadelphia, and she served in a chemical warfare plant. She was involved with the formation of the Sutter-Terlizzi Post of the American Legion in Shelton and she organized the American Legion Auxiliary.
She was very active in a variety of Community organizations including the Sarah Riggs Humphrey Chapter of the DAR, the Women's Relief Corps, the Farmill River Grange, the Order of the Eastern Star and the Huntington Congregational Church.
She was also very active with the Republican Party following Connecticut's adoption of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. She attended the 1924 Republican Convention in Cleveland as a Connecticut delegate. On the local level, she was the first woman alderman and the first female to serve on the board of education.
She served two terms in the Connecticut General Assembly. She introduced the bill that created the Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown. Fittingly, in 1956 Griffin Hospital established the Cochran Clinic for psychiatric care in the Valley. She was a trustee and corporator for Griffin Hospital and also headed the auxiliary for thirty years. She was also a trustee and President of the Board at the Flora and Mary Hewitt Hospital in Shelton.
She was also a philanthropic leader in the Valley following in the footsteps of her father in law, Friend Russ. She served as the administrator for a number of trusts that he had set up.
Following the death of her first husband, she married Arthur B. Conchran.
She was very active with Girl Scouts as a director for 29 years , and gave them the property that came to be known as Camp Millcroft. Among her other community activities were the Derby/Shelton Community Girls Club, the Shelton Welfare Commission, the Highland Golf Club, and the Shelton/Derby Community Chest (which became part of Valley United Way).
Information for this article is based on a story written by Sandy Nesteriak for the Shelton Life newsletter.
Learn more about the Charles H.
Flynn Humanitarian Award:
Past Winners of the Award
