Biography of
Henry Lewis Hoffman
July 31, 1938 – March 29, 2024
St. Louis, Missouri

Early Life

Born to German Immigrants, William Hoffman and Norma Bartels-Hoffman, Henry Lewis Hoffman lived in the city of St Louis. He had six biological brothers and sisters plus one adopted sister. Henry attended Catholic school through his childhood and highschool years in the St Louis City area. Father, William, worked at the shipyards and Mother, Norma, a homemaker.

Henry grew up poor. His household used a public bathhouse and would visit this weekly where a towel and bar of soap were provided for 25 cents. He grew up in the era where the Milkman delivered the milk and the Iceman delivered a block of ice for the icebox. As a child, his responsibilities and chores included bringing the firewood to the fireplace and stoking the fire inside the fireplace and potbelly stove. On any given day, you would find Henry bus-hopping on bi-state buses pretending to be part of families in order to ride for free. He traveled all over the city, seeking adventures even as a child on his own. Although money was tight, his father often gave him money to go see a double-feature movie (10 cents) and get popcorn (5 cents). He would mention seeing Frankenstein films that would scare him so bad, he often dreaded walking down the alleyways on the walk home (as well as the basement to his home where he had to collect the wood for his daily chores). Henry was also a Paperboy and delivered newspapers by bicycle to the neighborhood homes. He saved all of the money he earned to purchase the first television set for his family.

Young adult and Adult Life

Henry was an introvert and independent. As a child and as a service member, adventure was around every corner. He often sought the opportunity to travel the cities and the world and the military brought him to many countries. He first joined the Army. During this time, Henry was responsible for up to ten combinations for nuclear bomb codes. Every so often, he was given ten new, multi-digit codes to memorize. During his service years, he sent all of his Army pay home to his family. His recreation during this service period included orchestrating iguana races for money. William, his father, died of a heart attack during Henry’s service years in the Army. Norma, his mother, died on impact from a bi-state bus accident while walking to the store when Henry was around 44 years old.

When he was in the Army, he faced trouble with attendance and an ultimatum was given that he either faces punishment or a change in service branch after fulfillment of his Army obligations. This then brought him to the decision of joining the Navy, where he worked initially in the boiler room of the largest aircraft carrier in the world at that time. Henry remembers this as a miserable experience and immediately worked to devise a plan to remove himself from working in the boiler room in order to escape the heat. In an interview for a new position, he was able to convince his interviewer that he knew how to work controls for a certain position. When he began his new job, he had to fake it till he made it and learned how to operate the controls quickly on his own. He had gotten in trouble periodically for minor things, like sneaking booze onto the ship, all of which adds to his adventurous character trait.

After leaving the military, he worked at National Lead Company. After that, he worked as a carpenter for his brother’s St. Louis Home Insulator company where he eventually retired. He mentioned that he outperformed other employees on installation speed and efficiency. He picked work back up after retirement as a Head Custodian in the Hazelwood School District. Henry married twice: first to Rose (deceased) who he had his only child (Dawn) with, then to Liz (deceased) who was the love of his life. His life with Liz was spent fishing the many lakes of Missouri, which was a life passion of his. During his life, he had six subsequent red Dachshunds which he all named “Red”, then a black, long-haired Dachshund named “Fay-Fay”, and finally a Shih-Tzu/Chihuahua named “Cocoa”. His other hobbies included making lures for fly fishing. He was an avid reader of history and Western books, and he regularly watched history documentaries on TV. Henry was very religious and attended church on a regular basis.

End of Life

Henry spent his last 20 years of life living with his daughter, Dawn. They became close. They would often have long conversations about a variety of topics including religion/bible, history, current affairs and politics, movies/tv shows, and much more. They had taken many vacations together including Chicago, Utah, Montana, Las Vegas, and many Missouri and Illinois historical and nature-themed destinations. His mind was sharp all the way until the minute he passed. He had a memory and love for knowledge and history that was remarkably refined and unwavering. Just three days before his passing, he was able to recall the exact number of aircraft aboard the aircraft carrier he worked on while in the Navy. He is survived by his only daughter, Dawn, granddaughter Chelsey, grandson Dustin, great-granddaughters Bailey and Alexis and great-grandsons: twins Weston and Tristan.