For the past 13 years, Hollister resident Sue Rocha has been a
coach and a cheerleader, but her team isn’t made up of football and
basketball players.
On a day-to-day basis, Rocha visits the homes and offices of
small businesses in San Benito County, acting as a counselor and
consultant.
For the past 13 years, Hollister resident Sue Rocha has been a coach and a cheerleader, but her team isn’t made up of football and basketball players.
On a day-to-day basis, Rocha visits the homes and offices of small businesses in San Benito County, acting as a counselor and consultant.
“It’s not easy for them,” she said. “Eighty-percent of businesses fail in the first five years, so it’s my goal to help them succeed.”
When Rocha coaches business owners, she speaks from personal experience. She and her husband Dave started up their own business, Dave’s German Auto, in San Jose 29-years-ago. After a few years of running the business and living in a track home in San Jose, Rocha started to miss the rural lifestyle.
“When I was growing up, I was always surrounded by dirt,” she said. “Growing up for me, was living in the foothills of San Jose cutting apricots, and I was always use to having a lot of land around me.”
So the Rocha family moved to Hollister in 1987, after the birth of their first daughter Sara Jane. At first they lived at Ridgemark, but Rocha said being the daughter of a contractor, and her need for space lured her back out to the country.
“I just didn’t like being that close to everyone else, and I wanted more acreage,” she said.
After purchasing five acres, just behind Spring Grove School, Rocha designed a floor plan, hired out contractors and built the home of her dreams. As her family grew and her children began to attend Spring Grove School, Rocha felt the need, once again to help people.
“I thought to myself, you know there are tons of activities for students who play sports, but what’s there to do for other kids?”
With the help of a few other parents, Rocha co-founded the Spring Grove Theater Arts Program in 2001. Since scoring grants for the program, and producing four successful plays, Rocha said she’s most proud that more than 10 percent of the school participates in the program.
This year, her youngest, Renee Suzanne, graduated from Spring Grove and will go on to high school. She’ll continue to participate with the program and help out, but Rocha said, her biggest goal in life is to continue learning.
“My grandmother lived to be 99, and she read the newspaper every single day,” she said. “I hope to live to 100, and if I can learn until 99, I’ll be happy.”
