The Hochstein family knows the value of strong, local roots. Theirs go back five generations to the family ranch near 
Pincher Creek and a 100-year-old, 23-room Victorian home ordered from the Eaton’s Catalogue for the princely sum of $1,800. But the family’s roots extend well beyond that, travelling (among other places) all the way to Lethbridge College, where eight members of the family across three generations have studied.
Doris Therriault Hochstein enrolled in the Medical-Dental Secretarial program at what was then Lethbridge Junior College in 1960 and 1961, just three years after the college first opened and when classes were still held at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute. She lived at the YWCA with another girl from Pincher Creek and they walked the 10 blocks to and from school – and home for lunch – every day. Doris remembers making some lifelong friends during her time at the college, and learning a lot from Mrs. Fisher, who was very strict but prepared the students well for their future work. For Doris, that meant working as a secretary at a Pincher Creek lawyer’s office as well as raising four children and running the ranch.
All four of those children attended the college, including Terence Hochstein. After graduation, he worked first as a loan officer for what is now ATB Financial before spending 19 years on the family ranch full time where he and his wife raised their family. He then went on to work for Agricore United (now Viterra) as a retail manager/agronomist. Today, he works as the executive director of the Potato Growers of Alberta. “What I am doing today is a direct reflection of work I did at the college,” he says. “I had an opportunity to sit on the Board of Governors for a year as a student representative because I was the student council president. That aspect – even after a significant amount of time passed – is connected to this role.”
Terence met his wife Lynnette at the college, and their daughter Shelby, who earned a Business Administration diploma at the college and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Lethbridge in the 2+2 program, chose to wear the blue and green as well. “Lethbridge College put me on the path to where I am in my career today,” says Shelby, who now works in human resources for Syncrude Canada. She adds that she – like so many of her family members – had very positive experiences at the college. “The small class sizes allowed for better interaction with my amazing instructors,” she says. “Many of the instructors I had while at the college were the best I have had. Nothing compares to learning from someone who has real-world experience in the field they are teaching, and not just academic experience.”
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The Hochstein Family
Doris Hochstein
Secretarial Science 1961
Retired but still running the family ranch
Terence Hochstein
Agriculture Technology 1985
Executive Director of the Potato Growers of Alberta
Shelby Hochstein
Business Administration – Management 2012
Human Resources Advisor - Employee Relations, Syncrude Canada Ltd.
Several other members of the Hochstein family have attended Lethbridge College, including Terence’s wife Lynnette Collin Hochstein (Business Administration 1984), as well as his three siblings, Murray (Heavy Duty Mechanic 1987), Blaine (completed first year of Agriculture) and Renee (Information Specialist 1994). In addition, Murray’s daughter Morgan Hochstein DeLisle (Unit Clerk 2009) is also a Lethbridge College graduate.
