Sylvia Hyde Hoke

1929 - 2024

Sylvia Hyde Hoke died Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Littleton, CO, at the age of 94 after a brief illness. Born in New York, NY, on October 2, 1929, Sylvia arrived just weeks before the Great Crash that precipitated the Great Depression. She and her family shared a farmhouse in Freehold, NJ, with two other families for a period during the Depression before they moved to Columbus, OH, where she graduated high school as a top student and winner of a scholarship to attend any state university. Instead, she elected to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, where she majored in psychology. Sylvia married John L. Hoke, Jr., the day after their graduation from Antioch in 1950 and moved to Washington, DC, where she worked as a statistician for the Department of Labor and other federal agencies and raised four children. In the 1950s, the growing family spent several years in Suriname, where John's fascination with wild animals – boas, sloths, macaws, and more – flourished, and Sylvia's toleration for hosting such creatures in the home grew. After the family's return to the DC area, turtles, snakes, and tropical fish were the family's constant companions, familiar to the many visitors to the home in Bethesda, MD. Always politically active, Sylvia was associated with the Women's National Democratic Club and the National Organization for Women. She was a lifelong reader who was especially fond of mysteries. Sylvia was predeceased by her husband John and son Edward. She is survived by her brother Carl Hyde and sister Ruth Hyde Paine (both also Antioch College alumni); her son Franklin Hoke, daughter-in-law Agatha Andrews, granddaughter Magdalen Andrews-Hoke, and grandson Levi Andrews-Hoke; her daughter Bonnie Hoke-Scedrov, son-in-law Andre Scedrov, and grandson Kyrill Scedrov; her son Edward's widow, daughter-in-law Val Aschenbach; and her son Lawrence Hoke, granddaughter Nicolette Tuck, Nicolette's husband Trevor Tuck, and grandson Jesse Hoke. A memorial celebration of Sylvia's life will be held on August 17, 2024, at 11 a.m. at River Road Unitarian Church, 6301 River Rd., Bethesda, MD 20817. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Democratic National Committee or Planned Parenthood.