Ask Merri Vieira what she likes most about Hollister and her
face forms into a broad smile. She recalls the vast open spaces of
her grandparents’ ranch near Paicines, her happy childhood riding
horses and family and friends who would gather in town to catch up
on the news of the day. This fourth generation resident of San
Benito County says that while Hollister has grown, its essence has
remained the same: it is still a place you can catch a
breath-taking sunset, see the rolling green hills and run into your
friends at the local store.
Hollister – Ask Merri Vieira what she likes most about Hollister and her face forms into a broad smile. She recalls the vast open spaces of her grandparents’ ranch near Paicines, her happy childhood riding horses and family and friends who would gather in town to catch up on the news of the day. This fourth generation resident of San Benito County says that while Hollister has grown, its essence has remained the same: it is still a place you can catch a breath-taking sunset, see the rolling green hills and run into your friends at the local store.
Vieira, 49, is an office manager by day, but her life is full outside the office. She is a member of the Saddlehorse Association, a group that puts on the San Benito County Saddlehorse Show and Rodeo and is a part of the city’s Redevelopment Agency that is working to improve downtown’s image.
She is a rancher’s daughter, whose father, an old-fashioned cowboy, would not let her learn how to rope a cow for fear his daughter would lose a finger in the process. Her father, Dick Vieira, is still around and owns the 100 year-old ranch outside of Paicines, where her grandmother was born in 1904.
“It was so rural that it would take my great-grandfather a day of riding to get to Paicines,” said Vieira, whose great-grandparents immigrated from the Azores – islands off the coast of Portugal. She grew up in Hollister, but frequently visited the ranch to help her family take care of the animals. She also cut apricots and other fruit, helped her father brand cattle and, when all the work was done, rode horses with her friends.
“It really was a beautiful childhood,” she said.
Vieira attended North County schools and graduated from San Benito High School in 1973. She married two years later and had twins – Julie and Dawn – who both still live in the area. She was a stay-at-home mom, but as her daughters grew, she began working as a waitress, first at Jerry’s Restaurant and later at The Feed Lot (today called Rocky’s) and The Depot. She has worked at the YMCA for five years.
While Vieira says she loves the area and can’t imagine herself anywhere else, she says what Hollister needs most is commerce to create jobs and revenue for the community.
“I’d like to see a place here where single parents, especially women, can get a decent salary,” she said. Today, well-paying jobs are scarce and send people to other communities and out of state, she said. “There really ain’t a whole lot you can do here to make money unless you are a lawyer,” said Vieira.
Despite the financial troubles facing the town, Vieira thinks it’s the perfect place to raise her family. She says she has many close friends and enjoys watching her five-year-old grandson, John, discover the beauty of the area.
“He is learning the same things I learned when I was young: to respect the land and the environment.” she said. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
Local Stories focuses on the people who love living and working in San Benito County. Subjects are chosen at random by the Free Lance staff and published every Wednesday.
