Amber Lockwood

Amber Lockwood was a psychiatric registered nurse from New York's Hudson Valley, remembered by family, colleagues and friends as a fiercely loving mother, a patient advocate and the founder of Heart's Desire Farm. She died on August 27, 2026, at the age of 42, surrounded by the family whose lives she had enriched.

Born on June 15, 1984, at West Point, New York, Lockwood built a life centered on compassion for people and animals. As a Psychiatric R.N. she was known not only as a caregiver but as someone who spoke up for patients who could not always speak for themselves, and who stood up for fellow nurses. Coworkers later recalled that she could light up a unit, open closed-off patients with ease, and keep her sense of humor through hard shifts. Her family's obituary called her compassionate and opinionated, strong-willed yet fair and forgiving: someone who could disagree with you, tell you exactly why, and still love you.

That same nurturing spirit shaped Heart's Desire Farm, the sanctuary-style home she created for ducks, geese, turkeys, goats, turtles, fish, dogs and cats. Friends and family described caring for the animals there as one of the things that made her happiest, and as a natural extension of the care she brought to her nursing work. The farm became a private heaven she built for creatures who needed her as much as she needed them.

Above everything else she loved her family. She is survived by her husband, Robert "Rocky" Lockwood; her sons Thomas Barhydt and Declan Lockwood; and her bonus daughter, Madison Wood, whom she welcomed with excitement at the chance to be a "girl mom." She also leaves her mother, Sherry Hopper of Poughkeepsie; her father, Frank W. Purdy III of Tilghman, Maryland; stepmother Susan Purdy; brother Frank Purdy; sister Layla Purdy Waters; stepfather Ronald Pucino; bonus mom Kim Pucino; sister Kristina Pucino; and nephews AJ and Joshua. She was enormously proud of her boys and the young men they had become.

Her obituary was published by Timothy P. Doyle Funeral Home in Poughkeepsie on August 28, 2026. No cause of death was disclosed. Visitation and a funeral service were held there on August 31, 2026. In lieu of flowers the family asked for donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or to Sparrow's Nest, a Hudson Valley charity that delivers meals to people affected by cancer. Those who knew her said her absence would be felt in every animal that recalled her little farm and in the unmistakable voice still urging loved ones to keep their heads high.