1928
Theodore
2020
Theodore E. Hoffman
May 23, 1928 — November 23, 2020
Obituary
Dr. Theodore Edward Hoffman, aged 92, formerly of Craiwell Avenue, West Springfield, passed away Monday, November 23rd at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, after a short illness. Born in Springfield on May 23,1928 to John Hoffman and Anna Stempien, he was the fourth of their six children together. He also had 6 half brothers and sisters from John’s first marriage to Karoline Sawka, who was tragically killed in a trolly accident in 1914.
Dr. Hoffman graduated from Classical High School at the age of fifteen. A gifted athlete, he was recruited by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team to join their minor league franchise in Georgia, but ultimately was convinced he had a better future outside of professional baseball. Feeling too young to start college, he took a job with the Springfield Republican newspaper and worked as a typesetter’s assistant. In 1946, at 18, he enlisted in the US Army and was stationed in Trieste, Italy to enforce a truce along the line of the newly drawn border between Italy and Yugoslavia. As luck would have it, he managed to get a try-out for the battalion’s baseball team. An all Mediterranean league had been established after the end of WWII to entertain the more than one million US GI’s stationed in Europe to keep the peace and aid in reconstruction. He completed his active duty service in Europe playing baseball as team captain that won the league championship two years in row. Called back home on the death of his father in 1949, Ted began studying at AIC in Springfield as part of the GI Bill. Subsequently, he attended both Yale & Harvard Medical Schools, receiving his MD in both ophthalmic medicine and eye surgery. He married Kathryn Noemi Kasper of Agawam on January 16, 1969 at St. Thomas Church. Eventually he set up his private medical practice, originally at is home on Westfield Street but eventually at an office building he had constructed on the corner of Elm Street and Monastery Avenue in West Springfield. He practiced there for more than forty years.
He is survived by his six children, Theodore Hoffman Jr. of Issaquah, WA, Christopher Hoffman, of South Grafton, MA, Bruce Hoffman of Concord, MA, Lauren Ackley of Ledyard, CT, Elizabeth Cashman of Scottsdale, AZ, Julie Nally of Franklin, MA, his younger brother, Earl Hoffman of Canton, OH and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. The funeral for Dr. Theodore Edward Hoffman will be Friday, December 4th, at 10:00-11:00AM at TOOMEY- O’BRIEN FUNERAL HOME, 1043 Westfield Street in West Springfield. A Liturgy of Christian Burial will take place at 11:30 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church , 47 Pine Street, West Springfield. A burial will follow at St. Thomas Cemetery. To express condolences to the family, please visit www. toomeyobrien.com for Dr. Hoffman’s memorial page.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Dr. Theodore E. Hoffman, please visit our floral store.
Dr. Theodore Edward Hoffman, aged 92, formerly of Craiwell Avenue, West Springfield, passed away Monday, November 23rd at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, after a short illness. Born in Springfield on May 23,1928 to John Hoffman and Anna Stempien, he was the fourth of their six children together. He also had 6 half brothers and sisters from John’s first marriage to Karoline Sawka, who was tragically killed in a trolly accident in 1914.
Dr. Hoffman graduated from Classical High School at the age of fifteen. A gifted athlete, he was recruited by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team to join their minor league franchise in Georgia, but ultimately was convinced he had a better future outside of professional baseball. Feeling too young to start college, he took a job with the Springfield Republican newspaper and worked as a typesetter’s assistant. In 1946, at 18, he enlisted in the US Army and was stationed in Trieste, Italy to enforce a truce along the line of the newly drawn border between Italy and Yugoslavia. As luck would have it, he managed to get a try-out for the battalion’s baseball team. An all Mediterranean league had been established after the end of WWII to entertain the more than one million US GI’s stationed in Europe to keep the peace and aid in reconstruction. He completed his active duty service in Europe playing baseball as team captain that won the league championship two years in row. Called back home on the death of his father in 1949, Ted began studying at AIC in Springfield as part of the GI Bill. Subsequently, he attended both Yale & Harvard Medical Schools, receiving his MD in both ophthalmic medicine and eye surgery. He married Kathryn Noemi Kasper of Agawam on January 16, 1969 at St. Thomas Church. Eventually he set up his private medical practice, originally at is home on Westfield Street but eventually at an office building he had constructed on the corner of Elm Street and Monastery Avenue in West Springfield. He practiced there for more than forty years.
He is survived by his six children, Theodore Hoffman Jr. of Issaquah, WA, Christopher Hoffman, of South Grafton, MA, Bruce Hoffman of Concord, MA, Lauren Ackley of Ledyard, CT, Elizabeth Cashman of Scottsdale, AZ, Julie Nally of Franklin, MA, his younger brother, Earl Hoffman of Canton, OH and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. The funeral for Dr. Theodore Edward Hoffman will be Friday, December 4th, at 10:00-11:00AM at TOOMEY- O’BRIEN FUNERAL HOME, 1043 Westfield Street in West Springfield. A Liturgy of Christian Burial will take place at 11:30 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church , 47 Pine Street, West Springfield. A burial will follow at St. Thomas Cemetery. To express condolences to the family, please visit www. toomeyobrien.com for Dr. Hoffman’s memorial page.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Dr. Theodore E. Hoffman, please visit our floral store.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Theodore E. Hoffman, please visit our flower store.
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