Bruno Ochner, 87

A memorial service for Bruno Ochner, 87, of Frisco, Texas, formerly of Isabella, was held Jan. 27, 2018, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Plano, Texas. Mr. Ochner died Jan. 20 at his home in Frisco. He was born Sept. 8, 1930, in Burgstall, Italy, a small town nestled in the Italian Alps. His  parents were Anton and Albina Ochner, and he was the youngest of their seven children. As a young man, he studied in London and went on to manage hotels throughout Switzerland and Italy. During this time, he met his future wife, Marion Rinne of Chicago. They were married on June 27, 1961, in a small town in the mountains where the entire town came out to see the American girl marry the young Italian. They lived in the hotel where Mr. Ochner  worked along the Italian Riviera until eventually moved to Chicago.

In 1969, with their three small children, they moved to Isabella and bought Twin Forks Resort  on Bull Shoals Lake. They operated the resort for 46 years. Mr. Ochner enjoyed life at the resort, hosting and entertaining the returning guests and friends. He also enjoyed maintaining the cabins, the grounds and the boats at the dock. Life as a resort owner was hard work, but it also held many fun memories for the  entire family, including bon fires, fish fries, water skiing and spending many nights on the patio talking with old friends.

Mr. Ochner always had an optimistic outlook on life, sometimes maybe to the point of being a little unrealistic. He always enjoyed taking his children and any of the guests staying at the resort out water skiing. In the early years, he had an old Chris Craft ski boat – a lemon by anyone else’s standards, but in his optimistic view, it was always fixable. He and the kids would set out to go skiing, so optimistic that not even a paddle was brought along. His children, however, remember fondly how that “fixable” engine so often lived up to its lemon reputation, and in all reality, the new adventure, at least for the guests, was paddling back to the dock, not with paddles, but with water skis.

Mr. Ochner’s wife died in 2011, and in 2014, he sold the resort and moved to Evans, Georgia, to live near their son Douglas and daughter-in-law Sandy and their children. When his son was deployed, Mr. Ochner moved to an assisted living facility in Texas to be near his daughter Christine for his last six months. He enjoyed the social interaction there and could always be found chatting with other residents and the staff, sneaking a dog biscuit to Astro, the community dog, or going on regular outings. He was described by the staff and residents as always happy and someone who enjoyed having fun.

Mr. Ochner was a member of St. William’s Catholic Church for 46 years, and for most of that time directed the Communion servers. Mr. Ochner’s children remember seeing him read his Bible every night before going to bed with a  glass of wine. They knew him as an optimistic man who lived righteously, acknowledging his flaws, and as a hard worker, a family man who was  joyful and loved the humor in life. Overall, he was a man of unshakable faith who knew his salvation came through his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was dearly loved and will be missed by his family and friends.
He is survived by his sons, Carlton Ochner and wife Lori, and Douglas Ochner and wife Sandy, and his daughter Christine Ochner; grandchildren David, Annalisa, Jonathon  and Isabella; and his siblings Quirin, Tony and Albina.
    

Stonebriar Funeral Home, Frisco, Texas, directors.