Adele C. (Saklad) Hoffman
Adele Hoffman died peacefully at home on December 5, 2021. She was 97. Adele made lifelong friends with her diverse range of activities and interests. She attended the Brookline Public School system, participating in sports and social groups. She graduated Brookline High in 1942. Adele’s first year of college was at Hood College in Fredrick Maryland before transferring closer to home to Norton and Wheaton College where she “came into her own” as a proud member of the class of 1946, majoring in psychology.
Adele’s early career before marriage focused on psychological testing at a number of university-affiliated clinics at Yale, Harvard, Tufts and Suffolk and at Mass Mental Health.
An early member of ADA (Americans for Democratic Action), Adele stayed active in liberal politics and social justice causes throughout her life, as a pollworker, committee person, delegate and campaigner.
She met the love of her life, Michael ‘Mike’ Hoffman on the golf course through a mutual friend. Together, Adele and Mike raised two daughters (Sue and Nancy), enjoyed annual fishing vacations and family time together and cherished the community of her Newton neighborhood.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Adele worked at the (then) Beethoven Elementary School as a part-time Special Education teacher. She leaves many friends from her experiences there. When her husband Michael passed away in 1975 Adele knew she needed a full-time job and found what became her career in the Needham Public School System – as a Special Education Case Manager for 20 years – fiercely advocating for the rights and services of the special needs services in the entire Needham Public School system. Adele’s advocacy for her students reflected her advocacy for social justice causes in general.
Upon her retirement from Needham in 1995, Adele pursued a degree in Gerontology and spent the next 25 years advocating for local seniors involved with the Newton Senior Center, Newton Council on Aging and Springwell, most recently working as an Ombudsperson at a local nursing home.
Adele enjoyed arts and culture, traveling, staying busy, being social, sharing experiences with new and old friends and always voicing her political opinions. She was a leader, community-builder and friend. She was also a proud mother and grandmother.
If Adele was near, her energy reverberated around the room. She will be deeply missed by those she touched and who touched her.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Adele’s memory may be made to The Jimmy Fund, P.O. 849168, Boston, MA 02284 or to Springwell, Inc., 307 Waverley Oaks Rd., Suite 205, Waltham, MA 02452 or to Tikkun Olam Chavurah, c/o Maggie Trotzky, Treasurer, 27 Saxham Way, Wynnewood, PA 19096.