James "Jim" Allen Hoch

Jim Hoch, age 86 of Tallahassee, went to be with his Savior on October 30, 2024 after a struggle with respiratory failure. Jim was born on March 1, 1938 in Houston, Texas to Wilber and Helen Hoch. Wilber and Helen moved the family to Kansas as Jim and his brother, John, and sister, Susan, began school in Basehor, Kansas. Sports played a large part of Jim’s high school time as he starred on the football team, basketball team, and the track team. After graduating from Basehor High School Jim briefly played college football at Emporia State as well as Kansas Junior College where he became known as the “Basehor Flash” in the local newspapers. Injuries shortened Jim’s playing days and he moved on to focus on creating a life that he could be proud of.

He began working as a lineman for Southwest Bell Telephone Company in Kansas City, Missouri where he soon met the captivating dental assistant who would become his wife. After marrying his beloved wife Joan and starting their family, Jim moved to Horton Kansas to begin his first management job as Office Manager for Hammersmith Manufacturing before fulfilling his promise to return and finish his degree. Upon graduating from the University of Kansas, Jim moved his family to Tallahassee where he would eventually leave the corporate world after 10 years and settle in as a local business owner. Jim founded Hoch and Sons, Incorporated and began a 30 year career that included ownership of Calibre Services and Northwood/Lake Ella Coin Laundry.

As a man of many talents and great work ethic, Jim was also involved in several parts of the Tallahassee community. He has served as the President of the Tallahassee Swim Team (A.T.A.C.), coaching his three sons through various sports with the Tallahassee Rec Department, volunteering at North Florida Christian School, and serving in church ministries at Temple Baptist Church, Northwoods Baptist Church, and Thomasville Road Baptist Church. Jim was well known for his competitiveness and planning as a football coach for his son’s teams as the teams that he coached were generally seen as overachievers and for winning more games than expected. For the years that his boys spent playing football at North Florida Christian School Jim was a constant presence around the afternoon hours as he devoted hours of his time serving as the cameraman for the football team. While sports were a passion of Jim, his faith was also a prominent part of his life. As a member of Temple Baptist Church Jim was heavily involved in multiple ministries. He served as a leader in the bus ministry which brought children to church each and every Sunday. He also led the puppet ministry for the children’s church and served as Sunday School teacher as well. He and Joan were also faithful members of their beloved TBC choir and were involved in the creation of Lighthouse Children’s Home. Jim was instrumental in re-establishing the Foodbank of Tallahassee as a growing ministry of Temple Baptist Church.

As his final business closed up in 2014, Jim and Joan moved on to retirement and enjoyed spending time with the family and friends. Jim enjoyed traveling with Joan as trips were taken to Alaska, New England, Kansas, and other places. Seminole baseball games were a huge part of their time together as Joan loved baseball and Jim, well, he just loved spending time with Joan (if you know, you know.) Gameday with their church friends were enjoyed as was continued volunteer work at the church as they would weekly give time to make sure that the church grounds were cut and weeds were pulled. Jim’s true enjoyment of retirement truly came with finally having time to spend more time with his sons and their families. As the father of three sons, Jim (and Joan) embraced finally having girls around when the boys all married and started their families…GRANDCHILDREN.

Much of their time and traveling has been dedicated to helping, encouraging, and supporting the activities of these new additions to the Hoch family. Constant travel trips out of the state would now generally involve a stop in north Georgia as well as trips up to Michigan too. Jim fully embraced this growth of his family and remained as devoted to his daughters-in-law and grandchildren as he was to his wife and sons. Eventually Jim would see the addition of great-grandchildren and his love for his family would only continue to grow.

Jim is survived by his wife of 61 years Joan; his sons and daughters-in-law, Brian and Nora, Paul and Heather, and Matt and Michelle; his 9 grandchildren, Adam(Ariel), Daniel(Shelley), Joshua(Klaudia), Jonathan(Lilli), Madison, Jared, Audrey, Laura, and Samantha; and his 8 great grandchildren, Marshall, Christian, Austin, Mia, Collins, Nadia, Judah, and Gabriel. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you leave a memory, condolence or picture you have of Jim below. These memories will be cherished by the Hoch family in the years to come.

A memorial service for James will be held Tuesday, November 5, 2024 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM at North Florida Baptist Church., 3000 North Meridian Road, Tallahassee, Florida 32312.