Erlene Hockett

Erlene Cole Hockett (Krausert), who was never on time for anything in her life, made her well-timed departure on May 18, 2025, in Bethlehem, PA with her family and her cat at her side. Born September 24, 1935, in a family farmhouse in Dover, Tennessee, she knew what it was like to pee in a pot and have a well pump in your kitchen. On the farm, she had a pet chicken, cleverly named "Chicken." She was the only child of Henry Erle and Mae Catherine Luker Cole, a barber and beautician, and was named after her father. To say she was obsessed with her hair is understating it. Her family lived in Tennessee and Ohio before settling in Tampa, FL when she was 13, right around the time she says she reached her full height of 5'8". At the University of Florida, she met the love of her life, Orville Harvey Hockett, Jr., who taught her to dance and to cook. They were married June 14, 1958, and celebrated 25 years of marriage before he rudely died on her. Erlene was a career teacher for Pinellas County (Florida) Schools, except during the years dedicated to chauffeuring around her only child, Lisa Hockett White. After earning a Master's degree from the University of South Florida, she spent the last years of her career as a Special Education teacher at Melrose Elementary, where she perfected the art of motivating kids with gummy worms. It was good preparation for her retirement job as a full-time Grandma to Madison Elise and Darby Grace Payzant, whom she utterly adored. Erlene lived in thriving metropolises such as Murray, Kentucky, and Eau Gallie, Florida, before she and Orville settled in Pinellas Park in 1962. Although perpetually on a diet, her favorite things included fudge covered Oreos and Wendy's Baconator, for which she once ventured out in advance of a hurricane in the event it was her last meal. Erlene never met a fitted sheet that she couldn't fold nor a lawn chair that she could. Carrying on the tradition from her father, she was a big baseball fan, rooting for the Atlanta Braves and the Tampa Bay Rays. With family encouragement, Erlene became a world traveler and had many adventures. She saw Jerusalem, Egypt, Jordan, most of the UK, Hawaii, the Caribbean, much of the Canadian Rockies, and took both Amazon and Rhine River cruises. She managed to bury two husbands without ever triggering a Black Widow investigation, perhaps due to her cover as a longtime member of her church choir. Erlene liked her cats better than a fair number of people because she couldn't stand bigotry or meanness and will have 4 of them on her lap when she gets where she's going. That's of course after she sits in the bathroom for an hour trying to complete a New York Times crossword. Erlene spent her final 18 months enjoying friendship, bingo, food tastings, exercise classes, entertainers, and trips to the Iron Pigs and Christmas displays while a resident of Atria Assisted Living, to whom the family is extremely grateful. She is also survived by Sophie, a Siamese mix who is now in the care of Madison, favorite son-in-law Ron White, beloved cousins Linda Price, her children Scott Price and Ashley Holder, Karen and Bruce Milliman, Kathy and Max Robertson, Greg and Connie Rush, and a large collection of special friends. Services: A Celebration of Life will be held June 14, 2025, at 10am at Woodlawn Memory Gardens, 101 58th St South, St Petersburg, Florida. The family invites everyone to a drop-in reception from 11:30-3:00pm at Hacjenda Maryna, 325 49th St North. All are welcome. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, Erlene would be happy to have a memorial donation made in her name to the Malala Fund, the ACLU, the Trevor Project, or a pet rescue organization. Please love all people as yourself, be kind, be generous, read banned books, and get into Good Trouble. Hey, Dad warm up your dancing shoes!