Bear Edward Hoffmann, Lab/Shepherd mix puppy is the
greatest kid anyone could ever have. Bear recently had his 8th birthday
on January 8th. He responds to Bear, Wooferoni,
Furface, Puppywoofer, Earsnout (his German name), Bladesnifer and even
Asshole. He no longer chases, just gets the ball and drops it several
hundred feet from the thrower, sleeps often and whenever he can, survives
solely on dog bones, chocolate chip cookies, Cheerios, a few Mr. Salty
pretzels per night,
popcorn and snickers.
My parents are Joseph and Patricia (Joe and Pat) Hoffmann.
They were
married way back on May 18, 1957 and are still going strong, they may limp
a little with a few more aches, but there aren't two better in the world.
You'll find them mainly at my old house in Sharpsburg, PA or at King's
Restaurant for dinner. If there's a spare moment, my father will be on
the links spanking the little white ball around or down in the cellar
fixing golf clubs for just about everyone. HUH! Dad, if you you
didn't hear that, read it again.
Mom's pretty much
has the great
job of taking care of everyone (grin). She's the origin of the
Torch, having redhair herself, so I'd say I'm pretty partial. Mom
likely typed up about a thousand reports for me during my younger
school days and tutored me in just about every subject known, so
even the tops in the class of 'ole Sharpsburg High must not be too
bad :)
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I am the youngest of three brothers. My oldest Brother, Joe, works for Joy Mining. He's married to Michele and they have two kids, my goddaughter, Caitlin, and Joey. Click on Joe for a family photo. They also have Bagpipes, the wonder terrier. Joe, unfortuneately, is a Penn State grad, a true Trekkie and always had to hurt me when I was little. Joe was my Best Man at my wedding (Read: felt bad for him since he's not as good looking as me, plus I'm a better athlete, etc. :) Don't believe the I broke his things stories either (grin).
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My brother, Jeff, is also married, to
Kathleen and has two boys, Jeffrey
and Greg.Click on Jeff for a family photo.
They live in Durham, NC, about 5 miles from Kim and I.
Jeff also graduated from Pitt and played
trumpet in the band. He recently started working for Covance, a pharm drug
development company in RTP. His good qualities include having Carolina
Hurricanes season tickets, especially when he gives me some or free, and
is an avid hockey fan. By the way, Primo still sucks not as bad as lung
boy wuss in Philly but close, Go Guins! This has carried over to Jeffrey,
who plays in the midget leagues at the Durham Sportsplex. Jeff's
pretty much a metalhead, like me, and the bad qualities, well,
there's only some many MB I'm allowed to have here.
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My Grandmother, Grace Weyman, is my only Grandparent still living. She has always lived at my parent's house and we played many rounds of 500 rum and watched our share of Wrestling, Pens and Pirate games together. Many of Grandma's brothers and sisters were always "our" Aunts and Uncles too and were at a lot of family gatherings and parties.
My Grandmother Hoffmann died on January 5, 1985. My Dad always took her to Church each week and we spent many a holidays and weeknights with our cousins at her house. I could sit and listen to her stories from the early 1900's forever, all the while eating Kool Aid popsicle treats and cinnamon rolls or buns made fresh every week..
Both my Grandfathers died way back in 1972. I was pretty young (5) but I still remember being bounced around on Pap Hoffmann's knee and going to see the firetrucks and get a cheeseburger with my Grandpap Weyman.
