Stanley Ray Hoersch was born May 5, 1947 at what was then called Balboa Hospital in San Diego to Harold and Dorothy Hoersch. He attended school thru 3rd grade at All Saints Episcopal School in Hillcrest, then transferred to another private school – Francis W Parker – for 4th thru 9th grades. He then attended and graduated from San Diego High School and on to 1 year at San Diego State University before enlisting in the Navy for 4 years. After his discharge, he enrolled at University of CA Riverside where he received his degree in Psychology and worked for a couple of years for the County of Riverside in the Welfare Department. After many discussions with his parents, he agreed to move back to San Diego to begin working at the family restaurant with the eventual goal of becoming the manager/owner. However, over time when it became clear that managerial skills were not his forte, they agreed to sell the restaurant and Stan went on to pursue his teaching credential at San Diego State University.
Stan was one of the kindest people you will ever meet. As his younger sister, I probably knew him better than most, and I can honestly say that I seldom saw him truly angry, nor did he ever say disparaging things about others. He was always more of an “encourager” and quite humble. He was a very private person that didn’t enjoy large family nor other social gatherings, yet when you could engage him one on one, you could readily see the depth of his knowledge about his favorite topics. He had a passion for sports, especially baseball, and loved to watch Padre games, but also enjoyed basketball, football and even used to play golf. He was an avid swimmer since his youth, even winning awards for distance swimming. Until he became ill in early 2021, he went to the gym several times/week for most of his life.
Stan also loved being a teacher and especially enjoyed being with elementary school-age children; he could even teach bilingual classes (Spanish).
During his time working at the family restaurant, he became the wine buyer, and like everything else he did, he approached it with intensity and wanted to know everything he could about the grapes, the area in which they grew, the winemaking process and of course, the wine itself. At first, he had more of a scholarly interest in wine, but later on he began to enjoy going to wine-tastings on weekends and interacting with some of the friends he made there, although he was never a heavy drinker.
He never married, yet he welcomed my husband Robert into our family and was overjoyed to eventually meet our daughter – his niece Sarah – when she was born. Likewise, he welcomed her husband Scot into the family and enjoyed interacting with our two grandchildren, Hannah & Ben.
Throughout his years in school, he was always a top student, quietly receiving many awards and honors for his academic excellence. He spent four years in the Navy and did four tours of duty in Viet Nam 1967 – 1971 as a Dental Technician, having extensive contact with Agent Orange, which I am quite sure was the cause of his initial mild bout of Lymphoma in 2012 and its transformation to a much more severe form that appeared early 2021. Even though there was a lengthy wait before we got a definitive tissue diagnosis for his recent Lymphoma, with good medical care he achieved full remission after completing Chemotherapy mid-August 2021. Slowly he began to regain the weight and strength he had lost during this time and was beginning to get back to more of his normal activity when in January 2022, he was diagnosed with severe Congestive Heart Failure, caused by one of his Chemotherapy drugs. From then on, Stan’s health began a steady decline, in spite of excellent medical care, the latest medications and doing everything in our power to care for him and advocate for him medically. He died at home on Tuesday 5/17/22.
Stan had a huge impact on my life. As my big brother, I always looked up to him as he was my role model for academic excellence. When I was 17 and wanted to join a group that trained youth how to give vaccinations and teach basic hygiene & nutrition in poor villages in Latin America and our parents were against it, Stan interceded and they relented so I was able to go to Colombia the following summer, which was the catalyst for my future career in Medicine. More importantly, it was Stan’s changed life at age 19 and his intervention in mine that brought me to the place of acknowledgement of my need to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.
I am forever grateful to Stan for these things and many others and I will miss him greatly – I already do!
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.merkleymitchell.com for the Hoersch family.
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