Maynard Hoff

Our father, Maynard Hoff, passed away peacefully at his home in Thompson Falls March 15, 2016. He was 96. Dad was born April 6, 1919 to Norwegian immigrants, Olaf and Hilda Hoff, in Bonetrail, N.D., and was raised on a small farm near Dagmar, Montana in the northeastern part of the state. It was an extremely hard life. In 1936, after the family struggled to make a living, the family moved to western Montana in search of a better life. It took them seven days to make it across the state from Dagmar to Thompson Falls. He and his brothers worked in a small sawmill cutting ties for the railroad, and a couple of years later they started their own sawmill where they worked at it until the start of World War II. When the war broke out, Dad was inducted into the U.S. Army in April of 1942. He attained the rank of staff sergeant and was assigned to the 353rd anti-aircraft battalion. They landed in Belgium in February of 1945 and went through Belgium, Germany and were in Czechoslovakia when the Germans surrendered. He volunteered for the war in the Pacific but the Japanese surrendered before he was deployed. He stayed in Europe as part of the occupation force until December of 1945, when he then returned to the United States and was discharged. Dad returned to Thompson Falls and went back to work for the Forest Service for a time and also worked at various sawmills in the area. In December 1952 he married Lois Beryl Wollaston, the same year he started working at Browns sawmill as a mill wright. That mill was later purchased by WI and he worked there until he retired in 1982. To help supplement the family income, he started a TV repair business in the late 1950s which he worked at in the evenings and the weekends. He continued fixing TVs until 1992, when he called it quits at the age of 72. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hilda and Olaf, his beloved wife of 51 years, Beryl, and his three brothers, Edwin, Alf and Olaf. He is survived by three sons, Ray, Ronnie and Gary; a daughter, Nancy Martin, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He was a furiously independent man, and he very seldom asked for any help or assistance. After his wife died in 2004, he continued to live independently in his house inThompson Falls until two weeks before his death. He never sought out praise or attention; he was a just man, like so many of his generation, who did what was needed to raise his family in a respectable manner. He will be immensely missed by family and friends. Service will be held at Community Congregational Church Saturday, April 16 at 1 pm.

Service Information Memorial Service Saturday April 16, 2016 1:00 PM to 1:00 PM Thompson Falls Community Congregational Church Thompson Falls, MT 59873