A Gilroy woman who died from injuries sustained in a car crash Christmas Day car crash just outside of town has been identified as Socorro Alfaro, 64, a 35-year veteran of the Gilroy Library staff.
“We’re still in disbelief,” Head Librarian Lani Yoshimura said Wednesday, noting that she had worked alongside Alfaro for years before her former colleague and senior library clerk retired last year. “She worked here so long she’s as much a part of this library and our legacy as anyone else is. We’re very close, all of us.”
Alfaro was injured in a two-vehicle collision at about 12:30 p.m. Dec. 25 near the intersection of Roop Road and New Avenue while she drove westbound on Roop, according to the California Highway Patrol’s report. She failed to yield at the intersection and turned onto New Avenue in front of an oncoming SUV, according to the report. Alfaro, driving a PT Cruiser, then collided with the left side of a Toyota RAV4 headed south on New, which caused the SUV to roll over onto the south shoulder of the road, authorities reported.
Alfaro succumbed to her injuries-complications of multiple traumatic injuries due to the collision-just after 6:15 p.m. Dec. 31, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
While Alfaro suffered serious injuries in the accident, she remained conscious and provided a statement to the CHP at the scene. She told authorities she was driving between 20 and 30 miles per hour when she turned onto New Avenue, saw the oncoming vehicle but was unable to stop in time to prevent the collision.
The driver of the RAV4 was transported to a local hospital as a precautionary measure, but had no serious injuries, according to the CHP.
Alfaro was dedicated to her family, the library, her church and her community, Yoshimura said. In the mid-1990s, Yoshimura said tight budgets required some full-time employees to switch to part-time work.
“Socorro could have gone to work full-time at another library…but she chose to take the cut and stay in Gilroy,” she said, adding, “She was my second-in-command and we became really close during that time. She was quite a force to be reckoned with.”
Funeral services are scheduled to for 11 a.m. Friday at the South Valley Community Church, 8095 Kelton Drive, Gilroy. A viewing will be held at 10 a.m., followed by burial at Gavilan Hills Memorial Park.
