Andy Rocca
His neighbors can count on him
Andy Rocca has lived in the same house on Delwood Drive long enough to watch his three sons and the neighborhood on Iowa City’s southeast side grow around him.
But through those 25 years, one of the things Rocca has been able to depend on is neighbors who look out for one another.
Glenn and Doris Havel have lived next to the Roccas since 1992, and during that time Andy has done all sorts of neighborly good deeds.
“There are no kinder, better people than the Roccas,” Glenn and Doris wrote in an e-mail nominating Andy for this section. “Anybody who knows them will agree.”
Rocca watches the Havel’s house and picks up their newspaper and mail when they’re away. He has helped them paint, move furniture and clean rain gutters. He’s lent a hand with car repairs and maintenance. He’s taken care of their pets.
More or less, Rocca’s help has been a phone call or knock on the door away.
“They’re really good neighbors, good friends, and it’s just nice to be able to lend a hand,” Rocca said.
“Glen’s the kind of guy who will say he can’t do much in return, but he’s out there on the coldest day of the year when the snow’s flying with his John Deere tractor blowing everybody’s snow,” Rocca said. “He’s a pretty good neighbor himself.”
Rocca, a lifelong Iowa City resident and the city’s fire chief, said his relationship with other neighbors doesn’t go quite “to the same degree, but generally people help each other out.”
— Andy Hamilton
