Joan Hoffmann

Memorial Commentary for Joan Adron Jenkins-Hoffmann 1941-2020

Joan Adron Jenkins (Hoffmann) was born December 20, 1941 in Orlando, Florida to Jonah Chappel Jenkins and Susie Inez Calhoun.  In her early childhood, she lived in Orlando, Florida. At the age of 6 and a half years old, she lay in bed on her back for 18 months at a Shriners hospital in Tampa, overcoming an operation for a degenerative disease called Perthes hip. Even so, in later life, she walked and danced like a princess.

Susie and Jonah’s life together ended in 1949 and Susie later married Jimmie Day Richter.  Her step-father’s military assignments took the family to live in several countries in Europe then eventually to Harlingen, Texas, where she graduated from high school in 1960.

While working at the Texas, Harlingen Air Force base commissary, she met Cadet David Franklin Zehrung. They were married in Seattle, Washington, where he was stationed, in 1961. They had three children: Tamara Sue, Pamela Jean, and Bryan Lee.

Joan loved being a mother. She loved playing with her children in the parks, watching their excitement at the zoo, and bicycling along the lake. Some of her hobbies included ceramics and making birthday and other celebration cards.  She especially enjoyed singing in the church choir, and dancing.  For a short time, she worked as a volunteer at the USO Lounge at the Seattle, Seatac Airport.

As a young child, she was raised with the teachings of the Southern Baptist Church, but later as an adult she joined the Presbyterian Church.  Still not satisfied she had found her God; through the efforts of a neighbor and the LDS missionaries she eventually embraced The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in April 1980.

In 1983 she found herself a single mother. Being independently capable, she found work at Toys R Us and City University in the Seattle area. Eventually she went to work for the Verizon Wireless Company, where she excelled as a Customer Support Analyst.  Her many attendance and work ethics awards attest to her dedication and excellence.  She worked there for some 17 years before retiring.

In 1986, She met her next companion, Kenneth Dennis Hoffmann at a Singles church dance.  They married in September of 1988. They lived in Bothell and on Snoqualmie Ridge, in Western Washington.  In 2017, they moved to Springville Utah.

Besides her husband, Joan’s greatest love was her children, family history and temple service. She and Dennis were temple ordinance workers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for about 15 years, before she suffered her first stroke. Because her impairment did not affect her long-term memory, she continued to do weekly temple work as a patron until her last stroke in August of 2019.

She is survived by her loving husband, Kenneth Dennis Hoffmann of Bountiful, Utah, her sister, Linda Sue Richter of Orlando, Florida, and her blended family of six sons and three daughters:

Tamara Sue Zehrung (Wilcox) of San Diego, CA

Pamela Jean Zehrung (Millard) of Black Diamond, WA

Bryan Lee Zehrung of Kent, WA

Kenneth Charles Hoffmann of N. Salt Lake, UT

Dixie Lynn Hoffmann (Jones) of Riverton, UT

Paul Dennis Hoffmann of Queensbury, NY

Christopher Ryan Hoffmann of Sugar House, UT

Scott Thomas Hoffmann of Bountiful, UT

Boyd Aaron Hoffmann of Chino, CA

She has 32 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Joan is preceded in death by her mother, Susie Inez Calhoun, and her father, Jonah Chappel Jenkins.