Tribute to Doris Hoffman

Doris Hoffman, an American pioneer to the Philipines, passed away on December 6, 2010. We share below two articles on Ms. Hoffman - the first from the United States Bahá’í website and the second from Mrs. Jane Urbanek.

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(From an article posted at www.bahai.us)

June 23, 2011 • James Humphrey

Doris Hoffman, 91, Yakima, WA

Doris Hoffman devoted much of her retirement to serving the Bahá’í Faith in the Philippines, locating there in 1973–1974 and again in 1979–1987 with a few months’ interval in 1984. She passed away December 6, 2010.

A letter of condolence from the National Spiritual Assembly to the daughter of Doris Hoffman says in part, “Her abundant services to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, particularly the valiance she displayed as a pioneer and traveling teacher to the Philippines for the better part of a decade, are a source of inspiration to this Assembly and, surely, pride to her family. No doubt, numerous lives at home and abroad were affected by her exuberant spirit and touched by her undiscriminating capacity to love.”

A home health care provider and retail manager in Sumner, Washington, she opened a new chapter of her life and service to the Bahá’í Faith in the early 1970s.

She took an extended pioneering trip to the Las Pinas region of the Philippines in 1973–1974. After managing a hardware store for a few more years, in early 1979 she returned to that country to build and develop Bahá’í communities for most of the next eight years, bringing a grandson with her on one excursion.

Her survivors include a daughter, Anna Fulton of Washington; two sons, Charles Hyatt of Arizona and Eugene Graff of Washington; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

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(The article below was contributed by Mrs. Jane Urbanek, Philippines)

Doris Hofman:

My family and I were so privileged to have known a very precious Bahá’í pioneer to Palawan in the late 70’s to the early 80s, Ms. Doris Hofman.

She was the “Auntie Doris” of all the Bahá’ís of Palawan at that time. Please allow me to describe Doris to friends who did not have the opportunity to meet her: she was a frail-looking gentlewoman, about 65 years old, with kinky white hair, bespectacled, retired American nurse, when she went to Palawan, accompanied by another pioneer, Tony Cortes. She had a terrific sense of humor. Wherever she went, she was well-liked by the friends. She traveled extensively all over Palawan, by bus or by jeepney, and later, by jeep ---when the jeep for teaching from the National Teaching Committee arrived. Wherever one saw Doris, one knew that there was something that was always available nearby, which was: coffee. What a coffee drinker she was!

Doris would always be remembered by the Bahá’ís of Palawan for locating two properties, buying them, and donating them to the Bahá’í Faith: 1) the Bahá’í Center property in Puerto Princesa City (1/4 hectare); and 2) the Bataraza Bahá’í property (10 hectares) in Southern Palawan. Ronnie Padilla, my late husband, and Rady Abog, a Bahá’í pioneer from Mindoro, assisted her in looking for these properties. Later, she built the Bahá’í Center on the Puerto Princesa City property. That center, made of light materials such as sawali, nipa, wood, and bamboo served as venue for so many Bahá’í activities for so many years. The Bahá’í property in Bataraza became the site of the Bahá’í Tutorial School, where many Palaw’an, one of the tribal communities of Palawan, became Bahá’ís. Doris’ dearest wish was to make a substantial and meaningful contribution to the development of the Faith in Palawan, and with those properties, she felt that they were tools that for generations would be useful to the Cause of Baha’u’llah in the province.

Doris was a very practical woman. She made friends easily wherever she went. She was very very good at listening. She listened and observed and loved. I have not met any Bahá’í in Palawan who did not feel loved by Doris. Whenever I think of Doris, my mind wanders to one special episode with her, which is indelibly etched in my heart:

That day, she came early to our house. She was leaving for Manila. She told me that she would like to buy some supplies for the Bahá’í Center caretaker, to make sure he has food during the days when she will be in Manila. And, she asked me if I could accompany her to the market. Of course I said yes.

At that time, Ronnie and I were on our third year of pioneering in Palawan. We just moved from Brooke’s Point where we stayed for about a year, and Aborlan, where we lived the previous year. We decided to live in Puerto Princesa City, which was more centrally located in relation to the Bahá’í communities of Palawan. Friends who have tried to do home front pioneering know and are very familiar with the struggle and the hardship in the beginning, while they try to settle down and locate sources of income in the community they lived in. Ronnie and I were in that state at that time.

Doris bought a lot of supplies: a sack of rice, canned goods, a big can of powdered milk, biscuits, coffee, sugar, candies. When I saw what she was buying, I could not help say to myself, “Buti pa ang caretaker, bastante ang supplies niya!” (how lucky the caretaker, he has a lot of supplies). I was thinking about my two little girls, Lua and Corinne, aged 5 and 3, and our empty pantry and the empty rice container.

Then Doris and I took the tricycle. She said that she would like to go first to my brother’s sari-sari store, which was in front of our house to buy a sack of charcoal. Doris sat on the bench in front of the store and she started talking to my brother. The sack of charcoal was loaded on the tricycle, while I went to our house at the back to check on the children. A few minutes later, I saw the driver of the tricycle approaching our house carrying the sack of rice Doris and I bought. He unloaded near the door of our house. He went back to the tricycle and later came with the other boxes containing the groceries. Later Doris came to the house and opened the boxes and she quietly arranged them on the shelves.

My heart went to my throat and I could not speak. I realized what she was doing. Finally I said: “Doris, I do not know what to say!” She answered: “Then, don’t say anything! How can I leave ---seeing how wanting your family is? How can I face ‘Abdu’l-Bahá?”

There are numerous stories about the generosity and kindness of Doris Hofman, which I am sure a lot of the old friends who have had the privilege of meeting and knowing her could share. For me, what Doris did was to show me how to teach by living the life. Our family feel so blessed having known her and learning from her.