FREEBURG — Peggy Cochran, a native Southeast Missourian hailing from the Lake of the Ozarks in Rocky Mount, will deliver the keynote address at the Truman Day dinner on April 25. Doors open at 5:30 at the Paul A. Hasenbeck American Legion Post 317 in Freeburg.

Cochran taught speech, drama, and English for 21 years and served as a field representative for the Missouri National Education Association (NEA) for three years. She was named assistant executive director for three years before becoming the first Missouri woman named the executive director of the now 30,000-member Missouri NEA, a position she held for 19 years.

Cochran was also the first Missouri teacher to hold that position.

After serving as the interim executive director of the Louisiana Association of Educators (2019-20), the Georgia Association of Educators (2020-21), and the interim executive director of the Kansas Association of Educators (2023-24), she worked 49 years in education.      

Cochran served for six years on the Jefferson Community College Board of Trustees, the last two years as president. She has been honored with the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was recently recognized by the Lake Area Chamber of Commerce as one of the top 10 women at Lake of the Ozarks for her charitable work. She was named Lion of the Year by the Rocky Mount Lions Club in June 2021 for her work in helping build a community park in the area, and her scholarship program for the Rocky Mount Amvets received statewide recognition last year. 

Cochran was trained in Interest-Based Bargaining as part of the Harvard University Bargaining Project, and helped establish the Missouri Partnership in Collaboration (PIC), in conjunction with the Cooperating School Districts of the St. Louis area in 1995. She has been instrumental in training IBB throughout Missouri and has trained and facilitated the process in many St. Louis area school districts. 

Cochran currently serves as scholarship chairperson for the Rocky Mount Lions Club and the Rocky Mount Amvets. Cochran also chairs the Morgan County Democrats and is the vice chair of the 6th Senatorial Democratic Committee and Lake Area Federation of Democrats. She serves as president of the Jefferson City AAUW and the Capitol Women’s Political Caucus. 

She is also a member of the Missouri Women’s Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus. She is a member of and serves as the parliamentarian of the Missouri League of Women Voters.