Section of Highway 1 Dedicated to CHP Officer

By Jon Chown

By all accounts, Albert Hoover, for whom a section of Highway 1 was recently named, cut a dashing figure as a California Highway Patrol officer riding a motorcycle around Santa Cruz County in the 1930s. Stories abounded about the man, known for being helpful, but also for being a stickler when it came to the law.

“He pulled over my cousin and was writing him a ticket when he broke his pencil,” said longtime resident Marvin Del Chiaro. “My cousin took out his pocket knife and shaved his pencil for him, and he still finished writing him a ticket. My cousin loved to tell that story.”

But at a dedication ceremony Wednesday, the officer’s granddaughter Donna Edwards let out a little secret; there was one person who escaped with a warning.

“He pulled over Grandma Mary,” Edwards said. “And he gave her a warning on the preface that she would go out on a date with him. I always got tickled at that story.”

But Hoover’s story seemed to have come to an end on Aug. 30, 1934. While heading north towards home on the Santa Cruz-Watsonville Highway, he collided with a truck that had turned into his path and he suffered fatal injuries.

But after a lot of effort from the family and help from the CHP, Highway 1 between Branciforte Drive and Park Avenue, was dedicated as the CHP Officer A. Donald Hoover Memorial Freeway.

Donald’s son Richard, who was just 5 when his father died, had led the effort, but brain cancer took his life in May 2012 at age 84. He had received a plaque of what the sign would look like shortly before his death and chose to have it buried with him. Richard’s wife Jean Hoover helped unveil the one of the signs that would be placed on the highway Wednesday and said she was overwhelmed by the experience.

“It’s a wonderful day for all the family,” she said. “It’s been a long process, now we start a new era of remembrance.”

Caltrans approved two signs: one on northbound Highway 1, just south of Park Avenue, the other near La Fonda Avenue on southbound Highway 1. Hoover, said CHP area commander Paul Vincent, is one of three local CHP officers that have died on duty in Santa Cruz County and one of more than 200 that have died in the state. Lt. Michael Walker, hit by a vehicle on Highway 17 in 2005, and officer John Pedro, who was killed in a solo crash on the Green Valley Road exit near Watsonville in 2002, are the other two.

“In his sacrifice, a family lost its husband, father and son, the CHP lost a dedicated officer and the people of California lost a hero,” Vincent said of Hoover.

Edwards said that, besides the highway dedication, it was also nice to be included as family members of the California Highway Patrol.

“It’s a very proud day for our family,” she said.