Shirley HOFFMAN

1928 - 2018

Shirley Kahn Hoffman, 90, formerly of Rochester, New York, died peacefully on August 23, 2018 in Boca Raton, Florida. She will be remembered by all as "Bubbie", the quintessential Jewish mother, full of life, love of family and friends, and the true matriarch of her clan. Daughter of Max and Freda Kahn, she was born on April 23, 1928. She raised two sons, Ian Jeffrey and Charles Pheterson, both in South Florida. She "took care of the books" in family run businesses throughout her life, from food businesses to furniture and flower shops and interior design. Her intuition was famous, as she accurately predicted what would happen next. She arched an eyebrow and intoned "Right again, Shirl!" to note that she, once again, saw something coming, for good or ill. Shirley and her beloved second husband, Everett Hoffman, ran Your Flower Shoppe in Rochester and, in the late 1960s, moved to Miramar. They both deeply loved their grandkids. Shirley took each of her grandchildren to New York for a Bubbie trip. Shirley was a feisty "Auntie Mame", an example to her extended family, a spark of joy at a cocktail party, as she said, "an independent broad" who always gathered a crowd of friends around her, right to the end. A wine lover, she joined Mindy and Chuck at blind tastings and often won the top prize, even with ice cubes in her glass. She loved her trips, Italy, France, Oregon and Washington State. Everything "her way." As a bookkeeper in the Miami Design District, she was a no nonsense woman, able to handle the clients, rich and super-rich alike, with aplomb. She and her last boss, Chuck Pengelly, enjoyed working together, him with color, fabric and design, her - dollars and deadlines. The clients were happy in the end, even if these captains of industry did not like to do what she said, when she said it, but inevitably, they did. When visited recently by Rabbi Klein of TrustBridge, her devoted daughter-in-law Melissa recounted a tale of Shirley as Chuck Pengelly's gal Friday, saving (hiding) his own money from him in a "knippel", a hidden reserve, so that he did not spend everything as he went (as was his habit), like a folded twenty in a recess of your wallet. He retired at 70, she then 80, and he remembered her in his will. Hearing this story being told, Shirley perked up and distinctly said, "Knippel! Knippel!" The last words her family heard from her. Lessons learned. Right again, Shirl! Shirley is survived by her two sons: Jeffrey Pheterson of Boynton Beach, and Charles Pheterson of Davie and her daughter-in-laws: Melissa B. Pheterson and Mindy Pheterson, her four grandchildren: Faith Jenevieve Laux, Ana Davis, Mark Pheterson and Eric Pheterson, and her great-granddaughter, Alessandra Eve Laux, named after Everett, who always made Shirley smile. Shirley will be interred with Everett Hoffman in Beth El Memorial Gardens in Hollywood, Florida at 1:00 pm September 14, 2108. Celebrations of life then will occur at family homes on September 14 in Davie and September 15 in Boynton Beach. In lieu of flowers, please direct donations in Shirley's memory to the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation at clfoundation.org.