keyrouteken posted:
Hey Firewood-- I find no mention of Bill Hoffman in your link. Can you please be more specific ?
KRK
Someone told me that he would up after retirement at ROSS, a retirement community near Walnut Creek, CA. I'm sure he must have 'passed' by now but I don't know.
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There is a brief mention on this page run by David Sadowski - maybe you know him. Our master builder Mr. Hoffman apparently passed on in the late 80s: http://thetrolleydodger.com/tag/cae/
Hi, I am Bill's daughter. He actually spent his final years in a home in Orinda and died in 2003. He should have died in the 1980's when he developed an aggressive T cell lymphoma. Instead, as always, he focused on his modeling. He would bring his favorite car of the moment wrapped in newspaper to his chemotherapy at Yale. It was unveiled with fanfare to the doctors and staff after each treatment. He survived the lymphoma only to get a rare histiocytic sarcoma, often fatal, on his right hand requiring an amputation of his ring and little fingers. After a bit of depression, he figured out how to build with three fingers! He went blind from macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts in the 1990's with only a little peripheral vision remaining. He continued to build including laying track and wiring for a whole new layout upon his move to Orinda, slow and laborious work. His paint jobs were less good by this point. He maintained that people die within two years of retirement without a compelling interest in a hobby. He outlived his prognosis by 20 years!
