Obituary of Weston Wade Ochse

 Weston Wade Ochse, 58, of Tucson, AZ, went to God and Glory on November 18, 2023. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Yvonne Navarro Ochse; his son, Zachary Ochse; his daughter, Alexandra Jones; his brother, James Daniel Ochse; his sister, Mary Ochse; his stepbrother, Karl Ochse; his parents, Ann and Roger Ochse; his nephew, Tynan Ochse; his aunt and uncle, Marlene and Paul Ochse; his aunt, Nancy Geehan; his cousins, Jennifer Fortner, Chrissy Mitchell, and Trevor Terry; his uncle, James Warren Ochse; his aunt, Lana Chapman; and his and his cousin, Melissa Wiedebush.  Farewells will be made at ADAIR Funeral Home, Dodge Chapel, 1050 N. Dodge Blvd,. Tucson, on Friday, December 8, 2023, from Noon to 4:00 p.m. He will be laid to final rest in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, at a date to be determined.

 Born in Gillette WY, Weston (Wes) grew up in Wyoming, New Jersey, and Tennessee. After graduating high school he enlisted in the Army, where he served as a multi-lingual intelligence officer until his 2004 retirement. He continued to work in civil service, retiring from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in 2022. He spent thirty-eight years faithfully serving this Nation, which included traveling to almost sixty countries. Although his exploits remain under the cover of secrecy for the next fifty years or more, his personal awards demonstrate a life of exceptional and selfless service. During his career, he was the recipient of the DIA Civilian Combat Support Medal, the DIA Civilian Expeditionary Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the USA Commendation Medal, the USA Achievement Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Civilian Service Medal, the National Defense Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Civilian Service Medal, and the NATO International Security Assistance Force Medal, and others.  Beyond the ribbons and medals he was awarded, he earned several additional awards of recognition for his professionalism, including individual and team-based awards.

 Wes was also a prolific New York Times best-selling author of horror and military science fiction. His first novel won the Bram Stoker Award®, he was a four-time winner of the New Mexico Fiction Award, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In addition to numerous solo novels such as Red Unicorn, Bone Chase, Empire of Salt and others, he wrote books, comics, and stories for such commercial properties as X-Files, Hellboy, Aliens, Predator, Joe Ledger, V-Wars and more. In 2023 Wes co-authored Alpha Wave: Book 1 of the Sleepers War with Jonathan Maberry. He wrote the Seal Team 666 series, the Grunt Life series, the Burning Sky series. Several collections of his short fiction were published, including Multiplex Fandango and FUBAR, and in 2023, he published his first autobiographical poetry collection, Ziggy Stardust Turpentine Koolaid.

 He lived life to the fullest, but most of all he loved his wife, his children and family, writing, adopting rescue Great Danes, and trout fishing. Of all his travels, he loved visiting Scotland the most. During his career, he earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, taught creative writing at Southern New Hampshire University, ran his own teaching workshops, and was a life coach.

 Ernest Hemingway said, “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” Without question, Wes truly led a devoted and distinguished life.

 Fair winds and following seas. We have the watch now.  

 Farewells and remembrances will be made on Friday, December 8th, from Noon to 4:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Adair Funeral Home, 1050 N. Dodge, Tucson, AZ – (520) 326-4343.

1984 - 2004 – STAFF SERGEANT, US ARMY (RETIRED)

2004 – 2022 – GG14, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (RETIRED