John F. Hoffelt, a 60-year resident of Oak Harbor and our beloved father and grandfather, died February 1, 2013 in Harbor Care Home at Regency on Whidbey Retirement & Assisted Living, where he had been living since July. His death came exactly two months after that of his wife of 68 years, Virginia. He was 97 years old.
John Francis Hoffelt was born in Dagmar, Montana on April 26, 1915, the second of six children of Frank and Leona Hoffelt, both immigrants from Luxembourg who came to the United States as homestead farmers. The family raised cattle and grew wheat on its remote Eastern Montana acreage. Many of John’s skills as a mechanic and electrician were learned on the farm; he could troubleshoot and fix nearly everything.
Although John was a good student — he especially excelled at math — his formal education ended after he completed the 8th grade at his one-room grammar school. The area high school was far away and his father insisted his help was needed at home. But the severe drought and dust storms that swept the region left the family in financial straits. John then joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, clearing trees for roads and trails in various parklands to help support his parents and siblings. During these youthful years, John enjoyed boxing and became an adept bridge player.
In 1937 John enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served aboard the USS California and the USS Massachusetts. In 1942, while on shore leave, he visited a shipmate’s sister at Mercy Hospital in Williston, North Dakota. It was there that he met a young nurse – Virginia. John loved to recount that she inquired, “What can I do for you,” and claimed that he replied, “You will do.”
For the next 18 months the couple exchanged letters and John proposed by mail. John and Virginia were married on May 25, 1944 in Sidney, Montana, and honeymooned in Bremerton, where the Massachusetts was in the shipyard. Shortly afterward John returned to war operations in the Pacific.
The Hoffelts’ duty stations included Banana River, Florida, as well as Miami, Corpus Christi, Jacksonville, San Diego, Honolulu and Pensacola before they were transferred to Whidbey Island. John, a Chief Petty Officer, was known for his work with the Link Trainer, the flight simulator used to teach pilots how to fly by instruments.
On leaving active duty in 1957, John built a home in Oak Harbor and opened a television and electrical repair shop. When an employee needed a place to live, he was invited to move a trailer onto the property nearby and a mobile home park evolved from there. John was also a partner in a mobile home sales company and a printed circuitry-manufacturing firm, Lectrion.
John was a member of Toastmasters International, Rotary Club of Oak Harbor, Elks Lodge No. 2362, and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He attended St. Augustine parish, helping to build the current church and serving as an usher at Sunday Mass, and was a member of the Knights of Columbus.
In his retirement, John became enamored of golf. He and Virginia moved to a house on the 10th tee Whidbey Golf & Country Club Estates and were among the first to tee off when the new back nine opened. Golf and warm weather drew them to Sun City, Arizona, where they spent the winter for nearly 35 years.
Hard work and thriftiness had helped John to prosper. He emphasized the importance of education and put several of his children and grandchildren through college and graduate school; he was so proud of all of his progenies’ accomplishments.
Like many of the “greatest generation” who came of age during the Great Depression
and World War II, John’s Navy experience was a touchstone in his life. Although Alzheimer’s disease eventually robbed him of so much, his Navy days remained distinct in his memory – so much so that in recent months, with his impaired perception, his past became his present. He sometimes thought he was still in the military and good-naturedly wondered why they still wanted him.
In that regard, the date of his death has some significance. John made the rate of Chief on Feb. 1, 1944. He retired from the Navy (including from Reserve duty) on Feb. 1, 1968. And this loyal CPO was finally able to stand down from service on earth on Feb. 1, 2013.
We are grateful for the kind and respectful treatment accorded John by the staff at Harbor Care, especially during the painful weeks since our mother’s death, when he was so confused and bewildered that she was no longer making her daily visit.
His five daughters and their husbands — Susan and Mike Waller, Mary Rothschild and Ross Anderson, Margaret and Bob Foss, Marjorie and Jim Crossley, and Sandra and Mike Olson – along with six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren survive him. Numerous nieces and nephews, who knew him as “Uncle Johnny,” will also miss him.
In addition to Virginia, who died Dec. 1, 2012, preceding him in death were his three sisters, two brothers and a granddaughter.
Family and friends are invited to share stories and memories of John at a Vigil (Wake Service) at 7 p.m. Friday February 15 at St. Augustine Catholic Church. A Funeral Mass will be held at the church at 11 a.m. Saturday February 16, with Rev. Philip Raether as Celebrant. Rites of Interment and Military Honors will follow at Maple Leaf Cemetery with a reception for family and friends following at Wallin Funeral Home, 1811 NE 16th Ave.
Memorials may be made to the Oak Harbor Education Foundation Scholarship Fund.
Friends and family are encouraged to offer condolences and share memories utilizing the Memory Book hosted by Wallin Funeral Home at www.wallinfuneralhome.com.
