Shirley Hoffman Obituary, Death – We’re sad about the loss of Longmont, Colorado’s Shirley Stone Hoffman. On January 14, 2023, she died with her family around her after a brave fight with her health. Her devoted partner Paul A. Deeter, brother David Crane (who is married to Christine), children Donna Hoffman, Sherri Cooper (Rick), JJ Hoffman (Ida), and Katie Stafford (Lee), 10 granddaughters, and four great-grandchildren will miss her. Shirley was taken in by Betty “BB” and Roger Stone, and they took her to their home in Ardentown, Delaware.
Shirley was lucky to find out at age 83 that she had a brother named David who lived in Boston. David went to Colorado, and that’s how they met. She was in the Candlelight Theater and went to primary schools in the area. She went to Wilmington’s Friends School because she was raised as a Quaker. She went to Massachusetts’s Endicott Junior College. After she graduated, she got married to George Witman and had Donna and Sherri. Her first job after college was at the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington. Shirley ran Les Chalet Francais, a French camp for girls in Deer Isle, Maine, where she spent the summers with the girls.
Shirley and George Witman got a divorce, and she became the Head Clerk and Recorder for the Wilmington Justice of the Peace, State of Delaware, Criminal Court #14. In 1968, she got married to John Hoffman. When John Jr., or “JJ,” was born in 1969, they moved to Lakewood, Colorado. The whole Hoffman family works in Shirley and John’s estate liquidation business, “Hoffman Enterprises.” They hold estate auctions and antique sales on the weekends. Shirley was in charge of Girl Scout troops and ran cookie sales for the district. After Scout’s parents died in a terrible accident, Shirley and John took in Katie and Rana.
When her family moved to a farm in Broomfield, Colorado, she liked horses even more. Shirley kept doing Scouting and learning how to ride horses in Broomfield. She joined the State Board of the High School Rodeo Association and put together Broomfield’s team. During her work life, Shirley was in charge of A Child’s Adventureland, Miller Stockman, and A&E Office Supply. After helping a horse farm get back on its feet after a fire, her family gave her “Copper Delight,” a chestnut filly. Her life with horses changed when she got her first American Saddlebred (ASB).
After a few years of horseplay, Shirley moved her family to Longmont, Colorado in 1983 and started Hi View Acres, combining her love of horses and dogs. On the weekends, Shirley and her family went to horse shows and trained their Schutzhunds in the park. She continued to have ASB and NSH horses. She spread the word about the breed through the American Saddlebred Horse Association and the National Show Horse Association.
Shirley was able to talk! She spent years in her booth at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo teaching people about ASB and getting people to join. Shirley and her family spent many years competing in horse shows in Colorado and other places. She was especially fond of horses. Horseperson of the Year by the Colorado Horsemen’s Council in 1994. Shirley went to Equitana in Essen, Germany, to promote tourism in Colorado, ASB and NSH breeds, her equine export business, and Americana.
She wanted to bring Equitana to Colorado, so she started the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo. Expo started with that big dream. She helped make the RMHE, Colorado’s best horse show, happen.