ORTEGA, Eva

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ August, 7, 1991 Eva Ocampo Ortega, 88, died Sunday, August 4 at her daughter’s home in Glendale. Mrs. Ortega, a Wickenburg native, was born March 11, 1903. She was honored as a Wickenburg pioneer as one of the grand marshalls in the 1990 Gold Rush Days parade. Mrs. Ortega and her late husband, Ben L. Ortega, were business owners in Wickenburg for more than 50 years. Her death came a few months following the inaugural showing of her family’s photographic history at the 1907 Archives Gallery at Arizona State University. She donated a large collection of photographs and family papers to the ASU Chicano Research Collection to help document to presence of Hispanic people in Arizona. The family history is called the Teodoro and Mariana Rodriquez Ocampo Collection. Mrs. Ortega was educated at the historic Garcia School in Wickenburg, known as the “The Little Red School House”. Her ties to Wickenburg include a lifelong membership in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and her mother and father, Teodoro and Mariana Rodriguez Ocampo, were instrumental in helping build Wickenburg’s first Catholic church in the late 1800s. Mrs. Ortega was a member of the First Families of the Arizona Phoenix Museum of History, the Arizona Museum, the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary and the AARP Senior Citizens Club. She was a past member of the St. Anthony of Padua Altar Society, TOPS, and the Wickenburg Lions Club. As a resident of the Arizona territory prior to statehood, Mrs. Ortega was invited by the governor to attend Arizona’s 75 Birthday Statehood Pioneer Celebration. In addition to her husband, Mrs. Ortega was preceded in death by four sisters and two brothers. Survivors include Felix, of Palmdale; Daniel, of Wickenburg; Irene Hershkowitz of Phoenix; Maria DeHart of Glendale; 13 grandchildren; 12great-grandchildren; five nieces and nephews; four great nieces and nephews; and eight great-great nieces and nephews. Rosary will be at 7p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30a.m. Thursday, August 8. Graveside prayers and interment will be immediately following the mass at the Wickenburg Cemetery. Fr. Matthew Mampara and Fr. Thomas Boyle will officiate. A gathering for coffee will be arranged by family friends following the rosary and St. Anthony parishioners will host a reception following the mass.