Orpha Caroline Ochse, 100, died April 26 in Pomona, California. Born May 6, 1925, in St. Joseph, Missouri, she began her musical studies early, graduating from Lafayette High School in 1941. Her first organ teacher was Edna Michel. She attended Swinney Conservatory of Music at Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri, studying with Luther T. Spayde, before earning her Master of Music (1948) and Ph.D. (1953) degrees from Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, where she studied with Harold Gleason. She held teaching positions at Central Methodist College, Western Illinois State College (now Western Illinois University, Macomb), and Phoenix College, Arizona, before moving to California in 1957, where she served as director of music at First Congregational Church, Pasadena, for twelve years and as a lecturer in music at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for fifteen years. She joined the faculty of Whittier College, Whittier, California, in 1969 and taught for nearly two decades until her retirement in 1987, whereupon she was named Professor Emerita.
As an author, her book-length publications include The History of the Organ in the United States (1975, 1988, Indiana University Press), Organists and Organ Playing in Nineteenth-Century France and Belgium (2000, Indiana University Press), Austin Organs (2003, Organ Historical Society), and Schoenstein & Co. Organs (2008, OHS Press), in addition to numerous article contributions. Her research and performance activities took her abroad, including extended time in Paris working in the archives of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. She composed organ music, including Prelude and Two Fugues for Flute and Organ, and built her own pipe organ. Eastman School of Music awarded Ochse its Alumni Achievement Award in 2006. Active in the American Guild of Organists, she served as dean of the Central Arizona and Pasadena chapters and as a member of the national council. Also active in the Organ Historical Society, she was elected a lifetime honorary member of the society.
A celebration of life takes place May 22 at Mount San Antonio Gardens, Pomona, California. Memorial gifts may be made to the Whittier College Organ Restoration Fund (whittier.advancementform.com/campaign/organrestoration/give) for the college’s Memorial Chapel 1963 Schlicker organ.
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