Family remembers Jim and Julia Cottrell

Like many of her family members, Stephanie Cottrell, former Osceola resident, didn’t attend the trial or sentencing of the man who killed her aunt and uncle.

“I think we just didn’t want that to be part of our memory of them,” she said.

Osceola residents Jim and Julia Cottrell were struck and killed by a vehicle while enjoying an early evening stroll by Highway 34 on Oct. 31, 2008.

Murray resident Marlan Boor, 45, was intoxicated while driving his 1999 Ford F250 west on Highway 34. Boor failed to successfully round a curve.

Boor’s fate was decided on Sept. 18, when District Court Judge Michael Moon sentenced him to two consecutive 25-year prison terms.

But Stephanie Cottrell said the punishment didn’t bring her or the family any satisfaction. The 23-year-old is full of forgiveness and her heart now goes out to the Boor family, who she knows is hurting.

“We just want the best for his family as well,” she said. “We don’t want them to suffer. We know it’s really hard on them, too. Our thoughts and prayers were going out to them.”

Stephanie Cottrell said she feels the latest court appearance was harder on the Boor family than it was on her.

“[The sentencing] didn’t bring a lot of closure because we know that it’s affecting someone else,” she said.

Remembering the Cottrells

Stephanie Cottrell’s family is now focusing on the healing process and remembering the couple.

“We’re coping in our own way,” she said. “We have moments when we realize that our lives are changed forever, because they have, but we try to remember the good times especially during the holidays.”

During the times the family comes together, they laugh. They laugh about how Jim acted like paparazzi during Christmas, the couple’s favorite holiday. “[Jim] had the camera up in your face all the time and wanted to capture every moment,” said Stephanie Cottrell.

Julia equally loved Christmas and would shop her heart out with family members.

When coming together, the Cottrell family also talks about all the people the couple touched.

Stephanie Cottrell said she didn’t realize how many lives her aunt and uncle had affected. At the visitation, over 500 people attended, many the family didn’t even know and it lasted for over three hours.

“You don’t think about the people you touch every day in such a small way or how you made their day a little better,” she said.

Two ladies at the visitation were from a gas station where Jim regularly got his morning coffee. They told the family Jim always made them laugh and they would miss him.

Besides being extremely involved in family life, Jim and Julia were prominent Clarke County residents.

Both resided in the area for many years. Jim was born in Osceola, raised in Woodburn and later moved to Osceola. Julia grew up in Emmetsburg and later moved to Creston, Murray and then Osceola.

Jim was a 32-year veteran of the Burlington Northern Railroad and held the position of track inspector at the time of his death. After achieving 20 years of service in the Clarke County Clerk of Court’s Office, Julia was selected as the county’s clerk of court.

In their free time, the couple enjoyed taking walks, being outdoors, taking day trips to other towns, cooking and being with family and friends.

The sentencing

Although many family members wrote victim impact statements to the judge, only one was read at the sentencing.

Julia Cottrell’s son Zach Whitehill wasn’t at Boor’s court appearance, but his words rang out loud in his victim impact statement, read by Elizabeth Reynoldson. Reynoldson read Whitehill’s words in her role as administrator of the estate.

In the letter, Whitehill talks about his mother and 5-year-old daughter’s close relationship and how Boor ended it.

“Mr. Boor, in an act of immaturity, irresponsibility and recklessness, you took away a part of my little girl’s childhood, her happiness, and erased any opportunity for her and my mom’s relationship to fully blossom,” he wrote.

Whitehill asked the judge to run the sentences consecutively instead of concurrently. A concurrent sentence meant that Boor could have possibly served only eight years.

Clarke County attorney Ron Wheeler also argued for a consecutive sentence.

Wheeler said he thought Boor pleaded guilty during a July 9 hearing because he felt the weight of his reckless actions.

“The evidence was quite strong,” he said. “[Boor] knew what he did was wrong and was willing to accept responsibility.”

After the sentencing, Wheeler said about the judge’s decision, “I believe [the judge] felt that two human lives were taken and each count should be treated separately.”

Wheeler was the county attorney when Julia Cottrell served as Clarke’s clerk of court.

“Everyone in the courthouse thought the world of Julia,” Wheeler said. “She always had a smile on her face.”

At the trial, Boor apologized to the victims’ families and to his own, saying he never dreamed he would be in a situation like this.