We can’t really be sad that Kathy Hoff is leaving the Northwest. She is one of those beloved do-gooders who has to spread her wings.
The teacher is global, with multitudes of fans who’ve seen her give of herself to charitable causes and especially her students.
And she’s hyper-local. How many grandmothers still organize reunions for their grade schools?
Raised in Mount Vernon, Hoff got a job straight out of Seattle Pacific University as a special-education teacher at Spruce Elementary School in Lynnwood. She fell in love with her students, she said. That summer she headed to Europe with a backpack and a camera.
She made friends on the airplane and they all bunked together when they landed. She saw most every country, traveling with new friends along the way, got a nanny job in Italy and lived with a German family she met on a train.
She taught again in Edmonds, then spent a year in Vietnam running an American Red Cross recreation center. She returned and taught fourth grade at Beverly Elementary in Lynnwood.
“The school was like a family,” Hoff said. “I was in heaven.”
Hoff seldom loses track of her students, said Kim Dahm.
“She was a fantastic educator and mentor,” Dahm said. “She went to my soccer games and monitored my progress through high school. When I took time off during college she recommended me to a company that I worked for and traveled with for several seasons. Kathy has been one of the most influential people in my life.”
In 1974 Hoff took 14 high school students to Europe and Russia on a Reader’s Digest trip.
“What a summer,” she said. “What an experience in cold Russia.”
Education was different then, she said.
“I was invited to dinners and baby-sat students. I was able to take students to my home to do projects. I could take two or three students out to ice cream as a reward once a week. I took students fishing on a Saturday.”
If students misbehaved, she said, they were afraid of what their parents were going to do or say.
“Things changed in the 1980s. I could do a lot of fun projects in the classroom and not have to worry about testing. I think they learned just as much, or more, than now.”
When she taught at Beverly, her father died. She received a sweet sympathy card from Russ, the night custodian. She asked him to a Halloween party. They eventually got married, with her entire class in attendance. Their daughter, Angela, was born in 1977 and David in 1984.
Both of the Hoff children have moved to Kentucky, and their parents are following them. Angela is a teacher, coach and mother of two boys. David works for IBM.
Hoff taught fifth grade at Hilltop Elementary then transferred to Martha Lake. Hoff ran PTAs and parent clubs at her kids’ schools.
For five years she announced games at Edmonds Stadium.
“They sure were surprised to hear a female voice at a football game, she said.
She’s been on several Red Cross missions. Fellow volunteer Phil Gonzales met Hoff while they both worked after a hurricane in Texas. He said Hoff was a natural leader and took over a shelter kitchen. Hoff went to Florida after another hurricane and they met up again in San Antonio, Texas, after Hurricane Ike.
“Kathy became my right-hand man,” Gonzales said. “She did such a good job of making me look good I received the best evaluation I have ever seen.”
After tornados devastated Florida, Mike McIntyre said Hoff delivered not only meals, but stuffed toys and dolls she collected for the children.
“She is indeed bigger than life,” he said. “The folks in Snohomish County have been fortunate beyond measure to have Kathy as a neighbor.”
Hoff retired as a sixth-grade teacher, but she works as a substitute. The ventriloquist takes her dummy, Alfie, into classrooms.
“Sixth-graders knew he wasn’t real but loved to argue with him,” she said. “Now I take him everywhere I sub.”
The Hoffs were foster parents. Two “lost boys of Sudan” lived with them, followed by Cynthia from China and young men from Japan and Russia.
Anita Allaire met Hoff at an exercise class. Not only did Hoff plan a potluck for the class, she invited everyone over for a Christmas party, Allaire said.
“She makes people feel special,” she said. “She loves to tease in a kind manner.”
“Our roots are so deep here it is going to be hard to dig up and go,” Hoff said. “I love Facebook to catch up with and reconnect with former students.”
Diana Blanchard was in the fourth grade about 40 years ago and Hoff was her teacher.
“We’re still fast friends,” Blanchard said. She taught not only the 3-R’s she also passed on her passion for life.
Birthdays and baby showers connected the pair like dot-to-dots, Blanchard said.
“Kathy is a friendship-builder and as goofy as a clown. She’s an encouraging mentor and creative artist. She makes me feel special and has touched so many hearts. I know she will continue to be a light everywhere she goes.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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