MSS YOU DAD! 
My stepfather passed away yesterday. 
He friended my Uncle Yoshitoshi, when he worked as a Cryogenic Engineer, a contractor with the US Army Air Defense. The two became good friends and fishing buddies in Okinawa, Japan. Through my uncle met my mother and married her with me in tow in 1964. He went and worked at the Kennedy Space Center in 1965 and worked the Mercury, Venus, Apollo, Soyuz, Space Shuttle Programs until he retired. He was with Martin Marietta, Rockwell, and finished his career with Grumman. 
He was a gentle giant, born in Nutley, NJ and raised on a farm near Albany, NY to an immigrant couple from Germany. He attended college at Cornell and University of Illinois. He was always hard working and taught his children to be mindful of manners and to be kind to strangers. 
He's a veteran of the Korean War, served as a Lieutenant of an Infantry Rifle Company with the Puerto Rico Army National Guard. One day he was cooking a Puerto Rican breakfast and I asked him, where'd he learn to cook that. He told me his Puerto Rican Platoon Sergeant taught him during the war. He said that the Platoon Sergeant was the only one would speak English in his unit.
When he brought me to Satellite Beach, Florida. We landed in Jacksonville, FL and on the way home in his Volvo, he bought us a first taste of America at McDonalds I told my mom, Hey, they have McDonalds here too!. When we arrived, home, he prepared a steak dinner with green beans, and baked potatoes. When I walked to my first room on Lee Avenue, my toy box was filled with a space helmet, pop guns, and whole bunch of other toys to play with. 
My first summer, we went to visit his family in New York, met Oma, Opa, and my cousins. Cousin George was my age and he had toys cars with him. I didn't understand nor could I speak English, but when he wouldn't share the cars, I bit him. My cousin still remembers that too till this day.
Well, that fall, he enrolled me at Holland Elementary School. Since I didn't understand English, my teacher (elderly lady), Mrs. Fox told my dad that she couldn't teach me. He went to the office, and they transferred me to Miss Davis class... and she took me in and I assimilated into the American culture.
I remember him sitting with me at the kitchen table trying to teach me English and even hired a retired teacher to help tutor me. He also sat me in front of the television and had me watch Heckle and Jeckle and other cartoons and told me that's the best way to learn English.
My first Halloween, he bought me a Frankenstein custom and took me around the neighborhood for Trick or Treating
He fathered two sons and one daughter with my mother and as we grew up, he was fair with discipline and love. I think his hobby was watching us kids play sports, thank God my siblings excelled. Lol
His other hobbies were fishing and helping out at the church, especially at the Geneva 1st Baptist Church.
In 5th grade, he bought his first home off of Kale Street, Satellite Beach. Shortly thereafter, I had a tonsillectomy after the surgery we had our first color television and a lawn mower I was so excited about the lawn mower of course I changed my mind when I had to mow the lawn for years thereafter. lol But as a kid, I took job mowing our neighbors' yards and kept my pockets always full of money. 
He set an outstanding example of morals and values. He never cursed, drank, or smoked through all the years I grew up in the United States. He was always very patient with me, even though I probably didn't speak English well until I was in the 4th grade. I remember slamming the door in my room once, when he yelled out, If you break the door, I'm going to break you! lol 
I remember when I first came home drunk one summer, he knew it too He didn't say anything, but he let me go to bed, but in that summer, he took me into work the next morning with a major hang over and quietly let that punish me On the way home, he looked at me and asked me if I learned my lesson Yep, that was the last time I ever got drunk.
Back as kids, he told us that when the street lights came on outside, it was time to head home 
He never deprived us of anything, we received what we asked for in gifts, he allowed us to play sports through the recreational leagues, took us to Walt Disney World, Weekee Watchee Springs, Marineland, Six Gun Territory, Bush Gardens, Universal Studios, Sea World, Kennedy Space Centers, etc. 
When I struggled through school during my years at DeLaura Junior High, he took me to a slum area in Melbourne and told me that if I didn't buckle down and study, this is where I would wind up my grades steadily improved until it was 3.75 GPA when I graduated from Satellite High School. 
After graduation from high school, he told me that I had a choice of going to college or joining the service I decided to join the Army.
I know through my years in the Army, he was proud of me and when I received my college diploma as well. 
I'm glad last year, when I introduced my wife to him, I told him how much I appreciate being my dad, that I loved him.
Well, Dad, I pray the God will remember you during the resurrection. 1 Thess 4:14 - For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him..
Yahweh God, Thank you for allowing him to be such a sweet blessing in my life!

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OBITUARY

Richard Reinhold Hofmann

April 29, 1933 – May 19, 2017

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