Suzie “Suzi” Ochi
Suzie “Suzi” Ochi passed away on February 26, 2024. She was born in Ventura, Ca in 1926. Her given name was Suzuye Tamura. Her parents were Kuraichi and Akimi Tamura.
In the 1930’s, her family, including her older brother Nobu, moved to Montecito where her father worked as the caretaker of the All Saints by the Sea Church. Suzi attended Montecito Union Grammer School and Santa Barbara Junior High School. She was introduced to the piano at a young age, playing most music by ear.
Her schooling was interrupted by WW II and the family was evacuated to Turlock Assembly Center, then to Gila Rovers Relocation Center in Rivers, Arizona where they lived for several years. She attended high school and took piano lessons. She was invited to play the piano at assemblies and toured other camps.
After the war, her family returned to Santa Barbara, and she continued her music training with Henry Polk. She attended Music Academy of the West for three summers as a piano scholarship student studying with Soulima Stravinsky, Gyorgy Sander, and Sir Reginald Stewart.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Santa Barbara State Teachers College and her Masters in Piano Music at USC under the instruction of Lillian Steuber. During her time at USC, Suzi played at many LA venues including the Hollywood Bowl to make money for tuition. She was member of Phi Beta and Delta Kappa Gamma
Soon after graduating college, Suzi was hired by the Santa Barbara City Schools to teach music and piano classes rotating to all the elementary schools. After a few years, she also began teaching music at Santa Barbara Junior High School and San Marcus High School. During this time, she trained the choirs, quartets, and directed several musicals including the “Flower Drum Song”. For three summers, she had the honor to serve as an Associate Conductor with the West Coast Symphony Orchestra. Throughout her teaching career, she continued to provide private piano lessons to students in the area.
In 1966, Suzi was granted a sabbatical leave of absence for one year. She traveled internationally to make a comparison study of music education. On the last leg of her trip, her fiancé Jack Ochi (the love of her life) met her in Tokyo where they were married in a traditional Buddhist wedding ceremony on April 22, 1966, followed by a honeymoon in Japan and Hawaii.
Jack, who passed away in 2009, was a Civil Engineer and Project Manager for the City of Santa Barbara Public Works Department until he retired. Suzi retired in the mid 1980’s, after teaching thousands of students the joy of music.
Jack and Suzi loved their life in Santa Barbara with Jack working with the City and Suzi teaching music in the schools and Westmont College. 8Over the years they enjoyed skiing, bowling, golfing, and spending time with extended family members. They became golf members at the Montecito Country Club.
Suzie was one of the first Japanese members of the Santa Barbara Women’s Club and enjoyed many programs at the S.B. Recreation Center including Stretch and Tone and Bridge Games.
During their marriage, travelling became a passion. They visited over 40 countries around the world, to see exotic locales and historic places of interest. Some of these trips included skiing or golf.
Suzi was pre-deceased by her parents, her older brother Nobu, and her beloved husband Jack. She is survived by her sister-in law Grace Tamura, nephew Jeff (Laurie) Tamura, sons Jason and Matthew (Abby) Tamura and their son Ty, nephew Chris Tamura and niece Lynda Tamura. She is also survived by her other sister-in-law Chiyo Suzuki, nephew Tad (Francine) Suzuki, son Kai, nephew Lloyd (Karen) Suzuki and their children Aisli, Ronin, and Shea and her niece Lisa all of Santa Barbara. Other extended family members include the John and Fumi Suzuki family of Santa Barbara. Her early students Paul Cammer, Jane Oertel, Julie Slagle, along with Paul Mori, her last private student, stayed in contact with her all her life and were considered dear friends.
Suzi spent the last couple of years at Vista del Monte. Our gratitude goes out to the staff who cared for Suzi. We also want to recognize the added assistance provided by Hospice staff and their team. Contributions in Suzi’s name could be made to these organizations or the Music Academy of the West.