Louise Van Lear Hoback

Louise Van Lear Hoback

Mrs. Louise Van Lear Hoback, 99, of Salem, widow of Judge Frederick L. Hoback, passed away on Friday, January 8, 2010.

She was born in Basic City (now Waynesboro), Virginia, on April 15, 1910, to the late Charles Ambrose and Bess Crickenberger Van Lear. Her grandfather, a Confederate cavalryman, helped found Basic City during the post-war era, and her father was a prominent business leader and mayor of the Shenandoah Valley boom town. Her Van Lear, Crickenberger, Fishburne, and Crosby ancestors settled in the middle Shenandoah Valley early in the 18th century and supported the American cause during the revolution.

Educated in Basic City and later privately in Charlottesville, to which she moved with her family in 1923, she received her academic and ballet training in New York and was an accredited teacher of the dance, returning to Charlottesville to join the faculty of St. Anne's School for Girls. She met her husband there when he was a law student at the University of Virginia. They established their home in Salem where he practiced law, taught business and law at Roanoke College, was instrumental in establishing Salem as an independent city, and ended his career as a Senior Circuit Court Judge in Virginia.

Mrs. Hoback taught dance and ballet to generations of Salem and Roanoke Valley children, was a leader in the growth and development of North Cross School, and participated in numerous civic causes in Salem and the greater Roanoke Valley. She was the oldest living member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and her garden and social club memberships included the bridge club and book club. She spent time as a Boy Scout pack leader and even helped her own sons deliver newspapers in the early morning hours.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Judge Frederick L. Hoback; a son, Judge Frederick L. Hoback Jr.; a grandson, Frederick L. Hoback III; sisters, Phyllis Van Lear Lum and Mildred Van Lear Kaulback; and brothers, John Ambrose Fishburne Van Lear, Carlton A. Van Lear, and Glenwood Michael Van Lear.

Her surviving family includes her sons, Charles Van Lear Hoback and his wife, Paula Wood Hoback, and Andrew Fishburne Hoback and his wife, Nancy Ludlum Hoback; a daughter-in-law, Kathryn Good Hoback; grandchildren, Charles Van Lear Hoback Jr., Heidi Victoria Hoback, Sheridan Hoback McVeigh, Kirk Stratton Hoback, and Mary Neal Hoback; and many great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends.

The family will receive friends from 2 until 4 p.m. and from 6 until 8 p.m. Sunday, January 10, 2010, at the John M. Oakey & Son Funeral Home in Salem.

A funeral service will be held 10 a.m. Monday, January 11, 2010, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salem. Interment will follow at East Hill Cemetery in Salem. The Reverend Doctor Robert T. Copenhaver will officiate.

Flowers are appreciated and donations in her name may also be made to either the Salem Rescue Squad at at 201 South Broad Street in Salem, Virginia 24153, The Boys' Home at 306 Boys' Home Road in Covington, Virginia 24426, or to St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 42 East Main Street in Salem, Virginia 24153.

Online condolences to the family may be made at johnmoakey.com.

The Hoback family is being served by John M. Oakey and Son Funeral Home in Salem, 540-389-5441.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.