Roger A. Ochs(1946 - 2019)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On Sunday, March 24th, 2019 Mr. Roger A. Ochs of Bristol, CT bowed head low and took what would be his final well-earned curtain call before heading to that great green room in the sky. 

Roger, born July 2nd, 1946 in Pittsfield, MA to Carmen Ochs decided that after 72 years he was sick of all our crap and it was time to hang up the uniform, sheath his collection of swords, set free the rubber chicken and leave all behind to wonder how the heck he made it to 72 in the first place. 

Roger attended St. Joseph's High School in Pittsfield, MA (much to the chagrin of a nun or two) and would later study at Berkshire Community College as well as UMASS Amherst. He is preceded in death by his mother Carmen, brother David and nephew Joseph Thomas Bishop. Roger's enduring spirit will be carried on through his children Tanya and Joshua Ochs, Joshua's wife Jane; his grandchildren Jacob, Caleb and Samantha; his love and partner Kim LaChance; siblings Jean and Susan and their spouses Joseph and Mike; nephews and nieces Jeremy, Jeffery, Becca and Michelle. Along with a supporting cast made up of Cora Mitchell, Fred Moses, his friends at the Suffield Players, the fantastic poets of Klekola World Coffee and the wonderful folks at VFW Post 2083 where Roger had the privilege of serving as post commander. 

His friends and family salute a man who knew how to provide us all with just the right amount of second-hand smoke. We thank him for his commitment and sacrifices to this country, serving in Vietnam in the 162nd Medical Detachment as an army medic. He would go on to have a 20+ year career as one of the first male nurses at St. Luke's Hospital in Pittsfield, MA and Farren Memorial Hospital in Turners Falls, MA. In keeping true to a life of healing, he decided to donate a body more fit for science fiction to the advancement of medical science, after which his remains will be cremated. 

An avid supporter of the arts, Roger had an obscene passion for Jazz, Blues, and R&B. He toiled in writing and composed original pieces of poetry that I can promise you are completely devoid of any crypto-feministic twaddle. He acted and directed in countless plays within the theater community and in recent years took great pride in inspiring, training and scaring new theatrical artists as part of the educational theater program "New Faces" which he helped develop in conjunction with Suffield Players. 

A memorial will be held in Roger's honor at Mapleton Hall on June 30th, 2019 (time to be announced, information will be available on The Suffield Players website: www.suffieldplayers.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSuffieldPlayers. Roger has requested that any donations in his memory be made to benefit Mapleton Hall, The Suffield Players historic theatrical home. Please send any donations to The Suffield Players, PO Box 101, Suffield, CT 06078, please include "in honor of Roger" on your check; OR donate to Mapleton Hall online at www.suffieldplayers.org/donate 4roger.php. And so we say princeps bonus bonam noctem (good night sweet prince). 

We will all remember Roger Ochs the father, poet, brother, grandfather, lover, soldier, friend, artist and one giant pain in the ass son of a bitch.