Joseph Roy Hoffman

Joseph Roy Hoffman passed away on April 1, 2026, from complications due to a broken heart. It wasn’t the cancer or the pneumonia that took him down in the end, it was his inability to get over losing his wife, best friend, and high school sweetheart, almost two years earlier.

Joe was born on Sept. 13, 1942, to Roy & Aline Hoffman, in Toledo, WA, but was raised mostly on the streets of Portland, OR. His parents divorced at an early age and like many kids, he found growing up in a broken home wasn’t a glamorous life. His mom worked hard to keep them afloat, but unfortunately that meant she wasn’t around much, and wasn’t very engaged in his life when she was. Joe felt like he grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks” and spent his entire life trying to overcome that stigma.

Joe met his wife, Sandra, at a piano recital on May 24, 1955, at the age of 12, but didn’t actually go on a date with her until February 5, 1958. He was 15 years old and she was 16. The date was the annual Sweetheart’s Ball at Benson High School. They were inseparable from that moment on. They married 3 years later, September 9, 1961, and were married for 62 wonderful years.

They raised two children together, Joni & Kevin. Joe was very active in youth sports. He coached his son Kevin in baseball for many years and was also one of the original founders of B.A.L.L., Beaverton Area Little League, which is still active to this day.

Joe first learned how to be a typesetter and operate a printing press at Benson Polytechnic High School, which at the time was an all-boys school where students were given a special emphasis in a technical area. He got a job in Portland working as an apprentice printer and typesetter starting in 1961 for a printing company called Abbot, Kerns & Bell Co. before moving to Paul O. Geisey Adcrafters, where he worked for the next 30 years. Joe retired from Oregon Catholic Press in Portland on April 6, 2006, after spending 47 years steadily employed in the printing trade.

The next 15 years were spent thoroughly enjoying his retirement. When Sandy fell ill and moved into a memory care facility, he stayed faithfully by her side until the day she passed away in 2024. Joe was never the same again. He moved in with his son and daughter-in-law, and for the next two years struggled to find a way to mend his broken heart. At the time of his death, he was 5 days away from celebrating 20 years in retirement.

Throughout his life, he was easy-going, trustworthy, and honest, and also one of the most stubborn people anybody has ever met. He had respect for everybody and cared more about the content of your character than the color of your skin or your political affiliation. He believed that his word was his bond. If he said he was going to do something, he did it. You could count on it.

Joe was a hard-working, down-to-earth, humble man. His hobbies included cars, playing baseball and softball, golfing, landscaping, and creating stained glass art. His retirement years were largely spent traveling. First by cruise ship (15 different trips) where they went to Alaska and Hawaii and just about every island in the Caribbean Sea, then by RV where him & Sandy logged tens of thousands of miles behind the wheel. Later years were spent traveling to Hawaii with family, watching golf on TV and birdwatching.

He is survived by his daughter, Joni, and son, Kevin, along with their spouses Shawn and Jenn respectively. Grandchildren include Loki, Kristen, and Stephanie and great-grandchildren including Joey, Natey, Mason, Payton, and Jacob. Donations are to be made to the Alzheimer's Disease Research and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Memorial service at Skyline Memorial Gardens in Portland on April 17, 2026, at noon.

Visitation will be held at Skyline Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, 4101 NW Skyline Blvd., Portland, OR 97229, on April 17, 2026, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, followed by a Celebration of Life at 12:00 pm.

For those unable to join us for the Service, please join us via Facebook Live at 12:00 PM, PST. Linked here https://www.facebook.com/1261000600650385

All are welcome to attend the Committal Service, immediately following the Celebration of Life, the Committal will be held at Skyline Memorial Gardens Cemetery, at 4101 NW Skyline Blvd., Portland, OR 97229.

There will be a Reception from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, in the Skyline Chapel.