Obituary of Josephine Wood Ochoa

Josephine (Jodie) Ochoa neé Wood, lately of Foxdale Village in State College, passed away on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Born August 29th, 1932, she was the daughter of Josephine Green and Neal Shackleford Wood, and granddaughter of Josephine and Allen P Green, founder of AP Green Refractories of Mexico, Missouri. She grew up in Mexico, Missouri and St. Louis, where she attended Mary Institute and Country Day School and graduated from Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut, and Bennett Junior College in Millbrook NY.

She was an avid horsewoman in her youth, participating in jumping and foxhunting. She traveled widely in Europe and Africa and generated a remarkable body of photographs. In New York during the 1950s she worked in psychology research labs at Columbia University. While there she met and married Dr. Jorge Ochoa Altamirano, a neurosurgeon in training. They moved to his home city of Guadalajara, Mexico, where she lived for nearly 30 years, raised four children, and was active in the American expatriate community. When her children were grown she returned to the United States, first to McAllen, Texas in 1986 and then to Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2012 she moved to State College.

Her life took her on several paths: she was a successful commercial artist of watercolor and pastel scenes and was elected to the Pastel Society of America. She was a Certified Practitioner of Healing Touch Therapy. Building on her early training in music she was certified as a Clinical Musician, performing the Native American flute at several hospice units in the Charlotte area as a volunteer.

She was predeceased by daughter Josephine "Nina" Printy (Matthew) of Egg Harbor Township, NJ; brothers, Neal S. Wood and Robert A Wood; and by her former husband, Dr. Jorge Ochoa Altamirano.

She is survived by children Jorge Alexander Ochoa, (Heidi) of Austin, TX; Julie Ann Ochoa, of Princeton NJ; John Andrés Ochoa (Stacy) of Boalsburg; five grandchildren, and sisters-in-law Elizabeth Wood and Margaret K Wood.

A private burial will be held at a later date in Mexico, MO.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dementia Society of America, PO Box 600, Doylestown, PA 18901, www.DementiaSociety.org/donate.

Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home. Online condolences and signing of the guest book may be entered at www.kochfuneralhome.com.