Obituary of Dorothy Lee Hoffman

Dorothy Lee Hoffman – Meridian

             A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, February 10. 2023 at 1:00 PM at the United Methodist Church in Payette.

             Condolences may be made to Dorothy’s family at shafferjensen.com.  Arrangements are under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, Payette, Idaho.

             Dorothy Lee Hoffman passed from this life on Wednesday, February 1, 2023. She was surrounded by her children, her grandchildren, dear friends, two cats, five dogs, and so much love. She was held, too, by her deep faith in God whose divine love provided a sustaining embraced from the time she was a little girl.

            Dorothy was born in Wendell, Idaho on May 12, 1932 to Harrison Sherman Harper of Sikeston, Missouri and Margaret Katherine (Graves) Harper of Polson, Montana. Dorothy was a child of the depression. Financial challenges forced a move East with her mother and sister to live with family in Missouri while her father struggled to right the ship. Emerging from what was a dark time, Dorothy returned to Idaho at age 4. Back on their feet, the family relocated to Payette which would become her home for many of her happiest years of her life. Dorothy loved school, loved her sister Shirley and her many friends. She was extremely popular. She loved romance and she loved to play the drums, her talent for which was recognized when she was given a place in the Idaho State Marching Band. She also played drums with a local jazz combo.

            Dorothy met Glenn Robert Hoffman in 1951. They were married the following year. The young couple moved to the small Hawaiian town of Nanakuli near the Baber’s Point Naval Base where Glenn was stationed. It was a happy time and in December of 1955 their first child, Michael Lynn, was born. They returned to Payette. Two more children followed Margaret “Marty” Katherine in December of 1957, and Kathleen Anne in June of 1961. Dorothy dedicated herself to be the best mother ever and became everything to her children. She also used her gifts as caretaker and teacher to assist at their schools and do endless amounts of room mothering.

            After her children left home, Dorothy moved to Boise where she earned a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in English with a writing emphasis from Boise State University. She worked a t Chase”s Health food Store becoming an expert in nutrition. She also, began her career as a tutor, becoming a main stay with the Boise State University Athletic Department.

            With Michael and Marty often out of the country, Dorothy became a fixture in Kathleen’s family. While she was a wonderful grandmother to Michaels three children, the part she played in the lives of Ron and Kathleen’s girls was particularly important and created deep bonds of love.

            To know Dorothy was to know ceaseless warmth, limitless generosity, and the transformative power of her unconditional love. Her belief in the goodness of people and in their potential made her an extraordinary teacher. Whether she was delighting children in her Sunday School Class, helping kids who needed a leg up with math or reading, assisting refugee families with language skills to make their new lives work or tutoring Boise State Football stars who had to stay eligible to keep their scholarships(you would often find a three hundred pound lineman asleep on her recliner after an exhausting writing session), Dorothy was able to free her students from fear and self-doubt and infect them with her wide-eyed curiosity and her life-long love of learning.

            Dorothy touched so many lives. Nicknamed “The Nurse” because of her endless appetite for taking care of others, she met every one as a friend and equal. Empathetic and humble, she was caretaker and surrogate mother to so many kids. She seemed to come into peoples’ lives precisely when they needed her most. She often met people at low points. Never judging, always listening, she used her power of love and understanding to pull them up and up toward the best versions of themselves. Dorothy was a romantic. She loved movies, good books, music and dancing. She loved to feel and she loved love. Her deep appreciation of beauty encouraged those around her to see the world in a new and richer way. With all the difficulties she faced in her life, she never stopped working to meet life’s challenges, never stopped serving others. More than that, she never, for one moment, stopped loving.

            Dorothy was soft, one’s of life’s blessed innocents. She loved children and animals, especially cats. They enchanted her, fascinated her and gave her joy. At the end of life, June and Ruthie were her constant companions. People say cats are aloof and distant but her furry friends stayed beside her, physically closer than anyone else, right to the end.

            To be Dorothy’s child was to know real magic. Before school breakfast was accompanied by wild tales of what our cats got up to while we slept. We could look forward every morning to her wonderful stories, enchanting fantasies of exotic feline cocktail parties and masked balls… Chester and Niven and Mr. Snoop all in black tie and tails dancing the night away. Every day with her was an adventure full of laughter, joy and imagination.  Every Day was chocked full of love. It is hard to explain what it felt like to be loved by Dorothy. There was power and depth to it, a complete and total love that has provided and invisible means of support throughout all our lives.

            Dorothy is survived by her children, Michael Hoffman of London, England, Margaret Anderson of Payette, ID, and Kathleen (Ron) Hezeltine of Meridian, ID. She is also, survived by her grandchildren, Atticus Hoffman, Phoebe Hoffman, Olivia Hoffman, Laura (Nick) Robinson, Annie (Kyle) Schwab, Molly (Dean) Ibrahim and her great Grandchildren, Talor Robinson, Chloe Robinson, Mya Schwab, Emory Schwab, Zayden Ibrahim, and Ziggy Ibrahim.

            Dorothy is preceded in death by her father and mother, Harrison Sherman and Margaret Harper and sister, Shirley Masingill.

            The family would like to thank the nurses, CNA’s and doctors at St. Alphonsus and the nurses and staff at Treasure Valley Hospice for the wonderful, compassionate care given our mom.

            Memorials may be made in Dorothy’s name to Simply Cats or to the Meridian or Payette Boy’s and Girl’s Club, C/O Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, P.O. Box 730 Payette, Idaho 83661