Casto Ong Changho

Casto Ong Changho passed away on June 18, 2025, at his cherished home in Cary, NC.  He was finally home, after fulfilling an important wish to return to his ancestral village in China and other parts of Asia, then an unexpected, extended stay in Boston, MA.  Throughout his adventures over the last three months of his life, he was blessed to have been accompanied by his beloved wife, Aurora, his children and grandchildren, and other close relatives and friends.

Casto loved his family and friends, the outdoors, traveling, his home and fruit trees, beautiful music and playing his harmonica, Catholic religion and Buddhist spirituality, cowboy movies, the stock market, and Republican politics.  He valued education, hard work, and thriftiness.  He considered himself to have a serious countenance, but loved to make jokes.

Casto was born in Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines, the second of seven children to Zhang Ching Ho (a/k/a San Ong) and Ting Siok Tiak (a/k/a Su Ching).  The family fled the occupied Philippines during World War II to their ancestral village in Fujian Province, China.  The Communist takeover of China in 1949 caused the family to return to the Philippines, where they remained through Casto’s childhood.  The family was extremely poor; but Casto said he never felt the pains of their poverty.  He never coveted what other people had but he lacked, and although they wished for meat there was always rice in the pot and they did not go hungry.

In high school, Casto began working at his uncle’s store in Pasag City, Philippines.  He cleaned, cooked for the staff, and set up and opened and closed the shop.  He learned there to love engaging with people, a quality he held for the rest of his life.  He continued to work there to pay for his further education at Mapua Institute of Technology (now Mapua University), Manila, Philippines, where he received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1966. 

Casto knew that the future he wanted would not keep him in the Philippines.  In 1967 he immigrated to the United States to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia, from where he received his M.S. in Nuclear Engineering in 1970.  At M.U., Casto met some of his lifelong friends, including Aurora Diego, a graduate student in Dietetics who became the love of his life and his wife of nearly 55 years.  They married in 1970 and settled in the suburbs of Kansas City.

Casto spent his career with Black & Veatch from 1970 until his retirement in 2003.  His nuclear and chemical work took him throughout the U.S., Asia, and South America.  He designed many proprietary systems for various industries, including for General Motors, IBM, AT&T, and Vulcan Chemicals.  One of his proudest accomplishments was receiving the security clearance to design one-of-a-kind and classified projects in U.S. Department of Energy facilities, including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

North Carolina became home in 1990.  In Cary, Casto and Aurora found their lifetime community.  But, this transfer also led to ten years for Casto as an expat in Thailand: first, to manage the engineering of a paper plant; then, to serve as a Field Project Manager for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) for the construction and commissioning of power plants in Khon Kaen and Ayuthaya.  He loved the years he spent and the friends he made there.

Casto became a U.S. citizen in 1976.  Having escaped wartime invasion and Communist and dictatorial regimes, he was a proud American.  He loved Ronald Regan, both George Bushes, and Donald Trump.  Casto led the way for his parents and siblings to immigrate to America, as well. 

He was immensely proud of his children: Christine “Chrissy” Changho Bruneau (Adrian) of New Orleans, LA; Emelyn “Missy” Ramoino (Paul) of Tarrytown, NY; Kathleen Changho (Bill McGovern) of Lynnfield, MA; and Alexander Changho (Joanna Ziemlewski) of Cary.  Casto liked to say that through his children-in-law he conquered old Europe in one generation:  France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and Poland.

Casto enjoyed camping and picnicking when his family was young, writing, tending his trees, fishing, hunting, hiking, canoeing, and walking in the outdoors, especially the mountains.  He followed the stock market tirelessly and energetically managed his investments.  After he retired, he became active with the San Lorenzo Ruiz Association of America in Jamaica, Queens, NY, and helped found the Holy Catholic Church of San Lorenzo Ruiz and Companion Martyrs in Muhaki, Mae Hong Son Province, Chiang Mai Diocese, Thailand. 

Casto was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Leticia Ong Tan.  He is survived by his wife and children; grandchildren Alexandra Ramoino, Lily Bruneau, Sophia Ramoino, Jules “JD” Bruneau, Andrew Ramoino, Genevieve McGovern, Evan McGovern, and Cameron McGovern; bonus daughter, Kathleen Korn of Apex, NC; siblings Simplicio Changho of Leawood, KS, Elisa Ong Sia of Lucena, Philippines, Sario Changho of Princeton, NJ, Mely Ong Ballard of Leawood, KS, and Susan Ong Fabunan of San Jacinto, CA; and many in-laws, nieces, nephews, and other extended family who he adored.