Kendall G. Cochran ’12

A Ring Story

Kendall Cochran has a lot to be thankful for. In July, when he was on his way to work, an oncoming SUV crossed over into his lane and hit him head-on. Trapped in his truck with smoke filling the cab and the engine on fire, he managed to climb out the window.
Standing on the side of the road, watching his truck burn, the horticulture major called his dad to let him know he had been in an accident. After he confirmed he was okay, his next words were, “My truck is burning up, and my Clemson ring is in there.”
After the local fire department had put out the fire and EMS had cleared Kendall, he went to his charred truck to search for his ring, which he had placed in the driver-side door panel. It took the fire department’s jaws of life to rescue the ring, encased in the melted door panel. The firefighters cut out a chunk of the door panel with the ring embedded and handed it to Kendall. Not much else survived the fire, including a treasured Clemson horticulture jacket.
But he has his ring. He chipped it out of the plastic, buffed it a bit, and put it back on his finger.