Irene Mary (LaPlante) Hoffmann, 80, of Indianapolis, died on June 11, 2016. She was born on March 10, 1936 in East Andover and was one of seven children of the late J. Benjamin LaPlante and Dorothy (Hersey) LaPlante.
Irene was a graduate of Franklin High School and the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Following college, she was employed at the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington DC and later at World Book Encyclopedia in Chicago.
As an Indianapolis resident, Irene was an active volunteer in the community. She received the Mayor’s Volunteer Partnership Award in 1993-94. She volunteered for over 25 years in the St. Vincent Hospice Bereavement Department, facilitating the Rainbow Seekers Program for Grieving Children, the Daughter’s Grief Support Group for women whose mothers had died, and the Road to Healing Support Group for adults, as well as providing supportive telephone calls to grieving family members.
Irene served as president of the Butler University Faculty Wives Club, and she served in various offices for the League of Women Voters of Indianapolis. For 10 years, she recorded books for the Indiana State Library Talking Books Program for the blind and physically handicapped. She tutored Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) students in reading for many years, coordinated the IPS Composition Readers Program, and held various offices in the IPS School 70 PTO. Irene developed and staffed the grief library at Brooke’s Place for Grieving Children for 15 years, and she received their Volunteer of the Year award in 2000.
Irene was a longtime member of several book groups, including the one at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. She also played volleyball and pickleball at the Riviera Club for many years. Through her participation in these organizations, she formed a number of lasting friendships.
Her surviving family members include her husband of 57 years, George C. Hoffmann; her children: Jill Hoffmann (Gordon Strain) of Indianapolis; David Hoffmann of Lancaster, Ohio; and Karen Hoffmann (Jeffrey Schang) of Appleton, Wisconsin; her sisters Helen Duchesne of Bristol and Rita Norander (Robert) of East Andover; and her grandchildren: Marie, Alice, and Sharon Broadway; Sarah and Jonah Hoffmann-Weitsman; and Kayla and Dylan Schang and Cameron Schang Hoffmann.
In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her brother, J. Benjamin LaPlante, Jr. of Franklin; her sisters Eleanor Kehoe of Norwich, New York, Janet Mayo of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Margaret Paquette of Laconia; and her daughter-in-law Patricia Weitsman of Lancaster, Ohio.
Visitation will be on Saturday, June 25, 2016, from 10 AM till noon, with services at noon at Flanner and Buchanan-Broad Ripple.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: 1) Brooke’s Place for Grieving Children, 50 East 91st Street, Suite 103, Indianapolis IN 46240 or 2) St. Vincent Hospice, 8450 North Payne Road, Suite 100, Indianapolis IN 46268.