1979

scmintern@scu.edu

A man of faith, peace, compassion, and social justice, Roy C. Hoch M.A. ’79 was born in 1927 in Butler, Pennsylvania, the last of five children born to Rose and Farrel Hoch. He graduated from Butler High School and entered the Navy near the end of WWII. In recruit training Roy sang with the Navy Blue Jacket Choir and later became a swimming instructor and a springboard diver for the Great Lakes Naval Training Center swimming team. He was honorably discharged and attended Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he met his wife-to-be, Mary Jane Koehler of Sandusky, Ohio. He was active in drama, choir, and athletics. In 1949 he was voted All-Ohio Conference guard in football and was subsequently inducted into the university athletic hall of fame. He and Mary Jane were married on June 3, 1950, and had three children. In a minister’s prayer book that Roy has used since seminary, there is a prayer asking God’s blessing upon the social missions of the Lutheran church, especially “social workers, chaplains, and doctors.” He and Mary Jane have been most gratified to have been able to see one of their children in each profession. Roy entered Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary after from college and graduated in 1953. He was ordained into the Lutheran ministry that year and did graduate work after seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Illinois, and at SCU, where he received a master’s in pastoral counseling. As a reverend, Roy served parishes in Ada and Toledo, Ohio. In Ada, the home of Ohio Northern University, Roy became acquainted with campus ministry, and in addition to parish responsibilities, served as “contact pastor” for the denomination. He then served in Toledo at Glenwood Lutheran Church, and from there was called to Zion Lutheran Church in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Again, in addition to parish duties, he helped establish a Lutheran campus center adjacent to the campus of Indiana State University, Pennsylvania. From there he was called to be the Lutheran Campus Pastor at San Jose State, where he served from 1964 to 1979, a time in which he and other clergy at the campus were instrumental in establishing the religious studies program at the university. Roy taught as a “dollar-a-year” man along with a few other campus pastors until the program was firmly established. It was also during that period that Roy and his colleagues established a coffee house named Jonah’s Wail at the Campus Christian Center near the campus of SJSU. The setting was a stimulating gathering place for the discussion of religion, music, poetry, and issues of war and peace. In 1979 Roy was called to Reformation Lutheran Church in Milpitas, where he served until his retirement in 1988. Pastor Hoch became a member of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz, but continued to serve parishes upon invitation as supply pastor, teacher, and worship leader. He served on the council of the Lutheran Campus Ministry of Monterey Bay and met regularly with local pastors for text study. He volunteered for Friends Outside for many years and in 2004 and 2012 received the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center. He also served on the bioethics committee and later on the institutional review board for Dominican Hospital. Roy’s interest in athletics continued through the years. He participated in the Sentinel Triathlon, was a member of Santa Cruz Masters, and in 2009 was a U.S. Masters Swimming All-American, ranking No. 1 in his age group nationally in the one-hour postal swim. Roy was a loving father, grandfather, friend, mentor, theologian, and lifelong scholar. On Jan. 18, 2018, he died in his home surrounded by family and loved ones. Mary Jane, his wife of 67 years, preceded him in death on March 1, 2017. He is survived by son Dana of Saratoga, daughter Beth of Alameda, and son Hans of San Francisco as well as four grandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Doris Richards, of Richmond, Virginia.

08 Nov 2018