George Lewis Hoffman

George Lewis Hoffman died on December 14, 2010 at home in Happy Valley surrounded by his family. He was 93. He is survived by Edith, his beloved wife of 69 years, daughters Coleen Gipson, Patricia Langston, and Kim Hoffman, sons-in-law James Gipson and Thomas Tearnen, grandchildren Michelle, Shannon, Jeff, Jennifer, Janette, Laura and Stacy, and eight great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, eight brothers and sisters, and a grand daughter, Kristi Hanson.

George was born the fourth of nine children to LeRoy and Beulah Hoffman on a farm in southwestern Oklahoma near the small town of Custer. He spent his boyhood and youth working the family farm and creating adventures with his brothers on Deer Creek. He graduated from Custer City High School in 1935 and earned a BA in Education in 1939 from Southwestern Oklahoma State College. During his lifetime, he taught junior high and high school in Oklahoma Colorado, Kansas and Oregon. George and Edith were married January 31.1942 and worked for wartime aircraft companies in San Diego and Wichita during WWII. In 1944, they settled on a small farm in Colorado near Cortez, where their daughters were born. George and Edith farmed, and George also taught high school in Dolores, driving the school bus to and from school through the rural community. While plowing fields in view of Sleeping Ute Mountain and Mesa Verde, George began formulating an historical novel about the Anazazi Indians, a passion that would occupy him for decades.

After ten years in Colorado, George and Edith made a series of moves prompted by George’s teaching career and the desire to give their family a better life. In each new setting (including Wichita KS, Grand Junction CO, and Cottage Grove, Redmond, Milwaukie and Clackamas OR), George improved both their circumstances and the homes they occupied, building additions and decks, planting lawns and gardens. In 1979, George retired and was able to devote time to gardening, winemaking, woodworking, fishing, grandchildren, and his life passion, writing. He left a legacy of poetry, short stories, songs and novels, which are treasured by his family and friends. His historical novel about the Anazazi cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde was never published, but George published another novel, The Claiborne Institute, in 2003. George and Edith were members of the Sunnyside Grange and the Windy Whirlers Square Dancers. They enjoyed traveling together throughout Oregon and took frequent trips to Oklahoma and Colorado. In 1980, Kim and Stacy joined their household to form a three-generation family in their Clackamas home. They took many memorable trips together, including a tour of the East Coast, which had been a lifelong dream. George and Edith were residents of Somerset Lodge Retirement Community in Gladstone from 2005 until 2007, when they moved home to live with Kim and Thomas in Happy Valley.

George was a devoted husband and companion to his wife, a nurturing father, an excellent teacher, a friend to son-in-law Thomas, and a loving and often goofy grandfather. He was a man of good heart. He embraced life and those he loved. He will be greatly missed.