Edith "Jackie" Hoffman

Jackie was born in Canada May 7, 1923. When she was two the family moved to Pine Island, Minnesota. She grew up on a farm, helping with chores and attending a country school. She graduated in 1941, shortly thereafter she moved to California to work for Northrup Aviation building airplanes. One of her duties, because she was so small, was to climb into the wing to tighten nuts and bolts; she really was Rosie the Riveter! Jackie roomed with four or five other women while working at Northrup and she was able to keep in touch with them through the years. She would relate stories of her times in California and what they did for entertainment, she led a very full life, she was such an interesting person. It was in California that she met her future, Lester Hoffman, who was from Lusk, Wyoming. They were married in Las Vegas.

After World War II ended, Jackie and Lester moved to Pine Island, Minnesota, it was there that their son John was born. Eventually they made their way back to Wyoming, first settling in Douglas and eventually moved to Midwest, where Lester worked in the oilfields.

Jackie held a variety of jobs in Midwest, but in 1969 she decided to attend a Cosmetology School in Casper. She traveled six days a week for the next eleven months, only missing two or three days due to weather. She opened a beauty shop in Midwest and operated it for the next 25 years. It was in Midwest that she took up painting, she was the leader of a group of ladies that would get together and paint.

After her husband's passing, she relocated to Casper to be closer to her grandsons; Shawn and Aaron. Because of her love for painting she joined the West Wind Art Gallery where she was an active member.

As much as she loved to paint, having her family together, and cooking for them was one of her greatest pleasures.

Jackie passed away on June 21, 2014. Preceding her in death were her parents Bill and Verna Jackson, her husband Lester, and her son John.

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