Brenda Sue Zoch, known affectionately by many as “Honey”, fell asleep in Jesus on Monday, March 25, 2024 in Montgomery, Texas.
Brenda was born the fourth of six children to Otis Ross and Anna Marie Ferguson on November 22, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas. Ingraining their children with a love of music, a gift for resourcefulness, and a talent for finding the humor in just about any of life’s absurdities, Ross and Marie crafted a childhood of joy and creativity for Brenda, her brothers James “Peanut”, Roy, and Robert, and her sisters Rita and Missy.
Brenda’s journey through life was marked by the enthusiastic love and tolerance she shared with her husband Mike Zoch of nearly fifty years during which they raised four children-one planned, three unplanned, built a business- “Mike Zoch ‘The Digging Dutchman’ ”, grew a little rice, spoiled a handful of grandbabies, sat in offices for their church, competed for spotting windmills and dogwoods on road trips, raised a little hell, and shared a lot of love together. Brenda’s tendency for pig-headedness served her as a woman of unrelenting faith as she embraced the assurance of the gospel with whole-hearted dedication. Though a woman of confirmed intelligence (she was on the dean’s list for nursing school multiple times when she returned to college in her 40s, after all), Brenda possessed a pronounced dingy streak that both amused and frustrated her long-suffering family. When Dan Rather stated that an “investigation is now underway in earnest,” she unsuccessfully searched for “earnest” on a Texas map; when Uncle Richard yelled at her for soaking her hair in mineral spirits to remove paint from a project, she defended herself because “It’s, you know, minerals”; when David was talking about a Bingo night, she said, “Ooo! Bingo would be a good name for a dog!”.
She survived her role as mother to her sons Craigen Michael and David Mark (TPO), and her daughters Cyndi Sue and Carrie Cae, but she treasured her title as “Honey” to her grandchildren Katie and Ellie Zoch, Abigael Shevlin, Judith, Michael, Caleb and Emylie Guerrero, and her great-grandchild, Adelai.
Brenda’s capacity for humor, grit, artistry, and faithfulness is a legacy that has shaped her family into the remarkable people they are today, and her place among them will never be forgotten.