Joan Hoff

Joan Hoff, age 86, of Hauppauge, New York, passed away Thursday, June 3, 2021 peacefully in her sleep at home. She is survived by her beloved husband of 65 years, Ronald, her daughters Debbie and Diane, her son David, and her 2 grandchildren Madison and Travis.

The daughter of Morton and Lena Weiss, Joan was born on March 7, 1935 in Queens and grew up in Baldwin on Long Island in a secular Jewish family. Her parents, who immigrated to the US from what is now Belarus, ran a store in Baldwin. Joan dearly loved her older brother, Roger, who was 9 years her senior. Despite their age difference, they were very close and she looked up to him all her life.

Since the fifth grade, Joan had her heart set on becoming a teacher. She went to SUNY  New Paltz after graduating high school and while there, met Ronald. Their common desire to travel and see the world formed the solid basis of their relationship and legend has it that Joan’s chocolate chip cookies sealed the deal! They got married through Ethical Culture when Joan was only 20 and Ron 21. After she graduated, she supported Ronald while he went to college himself and became a teacher as well.

During this time, Joan held her first real job, working as a reservation agent for American Airlines. This only fueled her wish to travel, and being able to take freebie flights as one of the perks of her job was a thrill for her and Ron.

Joan taught 3rd grade elementary school for 9 years in the North Babylon school district. She stopped in 1967 to have her 3 children and when she went back to teaching, they refused to hire her on the seniority and salary level she was on and told her she’d have to start from zero. Joan fought this injustice for several years, but times were different in the mid-1970s and the school district absolutely refused to budge. Finally, she decided to become a substitute teacher in North Babylon instead. She did this until she retired in 1996.

Being teachers meant Joan and Ron both had the summers off. This time was always used for traveling with the entire family. From the very beginning, the children went on all the many trips, mostly camping at Montauk, Lake George and Chesapeake Bay, for example. Later, Joan and Ron bought a Continental trailer and drove cross country numerous times with the whole family. They even drove all the way from New York to Alaska twice! They visited most of the national parks out west and spent time in Canada. After 10 years with the trailer, they decided their camping days were over and that they’d fly instead – much to the delight of the now teen- aged children! They visited Australia and New Zealand with the whole family, as well as going to Hawaii twice. There were family trips to Spain, Morocco and Portugal, Porto Rico, Barbados, the Virgin Islands and a visit to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

Retirement from teaching became the golden age of travel for Joan, and she and Ron went all over the world. They had finally had time to really expand on their longtime second job as travel agents and sent themselves and their friends to many exotic places. They went on trips to India, China, Vietnam, Dubai, an African safari, Panama, South America (Brazil, Peru, Argentina), numerous places in Mexico, Thailand, Japan, many trips to the Caribbean, frequent cruises, Elder Hostel trips all over the US, several visits to Canada and almost all countries in Europe as well as the Galápagos Islands, Egypt, Turkey and Israel. Many times she was accompanied not only by Ron, but her daughter Debbie and husband Norbert as well.

Winters were usually spent in Florida until 2015, when age related aches and pains made it increasingly difficult to travel, so in 2016 Joan and Ron surprised everyone by getting a Boxer puppy, Brutus.

Brutus was the apple of Joan’s eye and she didn’t even want to go grocery shopping without him accompanying her in the car! The last trips she took were always with Brutus. He went to New Hampshire, to the top of Mt Washington, to Maine, Pennsylvania Dutch country, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Many times Brutus accompanied Joan and Ron to Long Island Ducks baseball games. Joan was an avid baseball fan in her younger years, supporting the New York Giants until they moved to the West Coast, and up until the coronavirus pandemic began, she went to Ducks games several times a month.

Joan was also an active member of AAUW (American Association of University Women) and the Ethical Culture Society of Long Island. She and Ron attended many meetings and events. She was also involved in the Gourmet Group for many years.

Joan was a true world traveler and was happiest when she was busy doing things, meeting people and going places. She loved spending time with her family and many friends. She will be dearly missed by all.