Rose Garden Resident
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Archived photograph
All-Star Stan: Stan Ochs sits with his wife, Jan, on a bench at W. Hedding and Elm streets, where, before he died in 2006, he helped transform the weeded area into a landscaped garden. Neighbors plan to remember Ochs' contribution with a plaque at the park.
Neighbors honor 'trash' man with plaque
By Mary Gottschalk
Stan Ochs lived in the College Park Neighborhood less than a decade, but his impact is expected to last for decades to come.
On March 17 at 10 a.m., a plaque honoring the late Ochs will be placed in the pocket park he created at the corner of Elm and W. Hedding streets.
"We're coming up on the one-year anniversary of Stan's death, and I thought it would be nice to have a memorial plaque honoring him," says Ed Hodges, a College Park resident.
"Stan was the driving force for getting that park in."
Ochs was 65 when he died March 19, 2006, 51 weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
It was 1997 when Ochs and his wife, Jan, moved to College Park, retiring for the second time.
Ochs immediately started working to make his new neighborhood neater, meeting people and making friends as he walked along, picking up trash.
Jan Ochs says she is still meeting people who knew her late husband from his walks around the area or his willingness to knock on doors to ask for signatures or donations for local projects.
The project Ochs worked longest and hardest on was the pocket park.
Once two empty, blighted lots with weed and trash, today it is a nice Mediterranean landscape with a bench.
To fund the park, Ochs applied for and received two Community Action and Pride grants, totaling $23,4000.
He then enlisted architect Paul McAllister, landscape architect William Soaw, John M. Barker III of Central Concrete and others to build what is informally called Elm Street Park.
The completion was celebrated in May 2004 with a barbecue hosted by Bellarmine College Preparatory, located across from the park.
Once the party was over, it was Ochs who returned on a daily basis to weed and see that no trash was allowed to accumulate.
In fact, Ochs' energy and enthusiasm for fighting litter was so impressive he became the model for a character called All-Star Stan promoted by San Jose's Anti-Graffiti & Litter Program.
Artist Paul Gonzales created an animated cartoon and printed materials, he says, "for kids to show them different steps on fighting litter."
Characters include Littering Lucy, Toss It Tom, Keep It Clean Jean and All-Star Stan, who picked up after himself and also collected litter.
"All-Star Stan does it all," Gonzales says.
"Stan was one of our biggest volunteers; he was a great guy, and I loved talking to him," Gonzales says.
Rob Boyles, who heads the program and will speak at the plaque dedication, says when formulating the campaign, they wanted a character "that symbolized the extreme of what could be done, and that was Stan.
"That's why we called him All-Star Stan. In all of our literature, we have All-Star Stan as our main symbol with a bag in his hand and a litter stick.
"He was a hero."
As Ochs' health declined, he became less able to continue tending the park he helped build.
Now the park is maintained by volunteer Bellarmine students.
"They have a crew out there every Saturday," says Jan Ochs.
"I don't have the time to work on the park. When I go there and realize he really did do this all by himself, it's pretty amazing."
The $350 cost of the plaque is being underwritten by the College Park Neighborhood Association, and Hodges will do the installation.
Funding for the plaque was approved unanimously by the board, says Michael Hinds, president of the group and a long-time College Park resident.
"Stan's unparalleled passion and his tireless, tenacious pursuit of his dream are the reason neighbors and guests are able to enjoy the park today," Hinds says.
"Stan led the charge to convert a muddy, weedy, trash-strewn eyesore into a picturesque, peaceful place welcoming all to College Park."
Hodges says when he approached the city about putting in a plaque, he got a positive response at each step.
"This isn't normal city politics; this is very nice," he says.
In a letter approving the plaque, Greg Schultz, maintenance superintendent for San Jose, wrote, "Stan was a fine man in your community, and I truly enjoyed working with him on this project."
As the dedication day draws near, Jan Ochs says, "I'm very excited.
"When Stan died, a lot of different departments within the city spoke up and said they wanted to do something, but nobody did.
"Ed took it upon himself, and I thought, 'This is time.' "
Following the plaque dedication, Ochs is hosting a coffee and cake reception at her home.
