Posted By:	John Scott Hoff
	Email:
	Subject:	JOHN RICHARD HOFF (1909 - 1970)
	Post Date:	June 04, 2005 at 13:22:44
	Message URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/ia/dallas/messages/152.html
	Forum:	Dallas County, IA Genealogy Forum
	Forum URL:	http://genforum.genealogy.com/ia/dallas/

JOHN RICHARD HOFF (biographical data entry). He was born 6 Nov 1909 DSM, IA - and died 4 Nov 1970 DSM, IA. He was the first of 3 children born to parents JOHN CASSIUS HOFF (1875 - 1963) and MABLE MINA TENNANT (1888 - 1963), and along with his 2 sisters, was the final owner of the Hoff farm before it was sold to the DSM Golf & Country Club, ending the direct Hoff Nexus with Dallas Co., IA (although a William A. Goodwin, the son of JEANNE BEATRICE HOFF GOODWIN and his wife are Club Members). JOHN R. Hoff grew up at 1325 - E. 13th, DSM, IA, and graduatecd from East High School in 1927, where he had been active in the first Troop of Boy Scouts of America in Iowa, debate, and plays/acting. He attended Drake Univ. for 2 years and was a member of Sigma Alpha Episalon (SAE), and then received a scholarship to Northwestern Univ.'s Business School in Chicago, where he graduated in 1931 (BSBA) in insurance. He began work for the Insurance Co. of North America (INA) as a Field Agent and Special Agent in Sioux Falls, SD. On 1 Sep 1934 he married VALETTA FLORENCE SCOTT (1912 - Now living in DSM) in Grace Methodist Church in DSM, and they lived in Sioux Fall, SD where he was a Field & Special Agent for the Insurance Co. of North America. He was unable to serve in WWII die to a crushed/fused ankle, which resulted from a childhood injury (jumping off a garage). He left INA and moved back to DSM, where in 1946 he began the Hoff Insurance Agency. He and his wife lived in Beaverdale until about 1945 when he bought a house at 692-48th Street, DSM, IA. He was active in the Central Presbyterian Church and acting in the Kendall Playhouse and the Des Moines Community Playhouse located next to Roosevelt High School. He and his wife "Scotty" purchased a summer house on South Shore Dr., Clear Lake, IA in the 1930s, and they owned it for nearly 4 decades. He liked pheasant hunting and power boating. He had two sons: 1. JOHN SCOTT HOFF (2 Jan 1946 DSM, IA - Now living in Chicago, IL); and, 2. ROBERT TENNANT HOFF (4 Jun 1948 DSM - Now living in Washington, DC). He merged his insurance agency into the Hopkins Agency in about 1969. He had smoked heavily and died at age 61 of health complications relating to that past-time. He was extremely out-going, an extrovert, gragarious and a fun-loving, party-type. He had a great sense of humor and loved his two sons. He died on 4 Nov 1970 and following services at Dunn's Funeral Home, and was interred in the DSM Glendale Cem. at 50th and University Ave. next to his father and mother. His widow, VALETTA FLORENCE SCOTT ("Scotty") moved from 692-48th St., literally across the street to 695-48th St. (literally across the street), from 1971-1980. She sold the Clear Lake residence in the late 1970s, and in 1980 moved to a house at 5509-59th St. She sold this residence in Nov 2000, and moved to Wesley Acres at 3524 Grand Ave., an "assisted care facility", where she now resides at age 92. (information from his son, JOHN SCOTT HOFF <jsh@aviationattorney.com> in Chicago, IL.