Alta Almeda Hoffman

Alta Almeda Hoffman was born December 12, 1929 and passed to her next adventure on November 8, 2026 at the age of 96. She was born in Fort Collins, Colorado, the third child of James Earl and Alma Almeda (Brolliar) Temple.

Alta always valued education. As there was no high school near the family farm, she lived with a family in Fort Collins to continue her education. She then attended Colorado State University where she met and married her biology teacher’s assistant, Donald M. Hoffman.

Two children and roughly 10 years later, she received her Bachelor’s degree in Education at Adams State College, studying in the summers while teaching full time under an emergency program that hired teachers who were working on their degrees.

She taught elementary ed and high school biology at Colorado schools in LaVeta, Woodland Park and Loveland. She imparted her love of reading to many children who still credit her for sharing.

While teaching in Loveland, she attended Colorado State University where she received her Master’s degree and became a reading specialist.

After Don retired, they moved to Oden, Arkansas, where she continued teaching. After Don’s passing in 1996, she moved to Yukon, Oklahoma, then Topeka, Kansas.

She spent her retirement years traveling extensively in Mexico and Central America where she studied indigenous tribes, particularly the Mayan culture. She participated in archeological digs of the Mayans in Belize through a program with Texas Tech University. She continued studying a vast array of things the remainder of her life. As her vision was failing in the last months of her life, she used audio to continue learning. She will be remembered for her love of her dogs, birds, flowers, nature and sunsets.

She was a loving and treasured member of her family. She is survived by her son, Kenneth Hoffman, and his wife, Diana, of Topeka, Kansas; and her daughter, Nancy Wedman, and her husband, Dan, of Calumet, Oklahoma. She was blessed with four grandchildren: Carolyn (Brad) Sherry of Yukon, Oklahoma; Suzanne Pippen of Topeka, Kansas; Trevor (Beatrice) Wedman of Calumet, Oklahoma, and Konstanz, Germany; and Crystal (Ron) Shaver of Olathe, Kansas. She also leaves behind 15 great-grandchildren: Lana, Ava, Ben, and Ila Sherry; Mikhial Fox; Sava, Ambrosius, Ludovica, Innocent, and Cyril Wedman; and Luna, Victor, Almeda, Franklin, and Henry Shaver, with a new little Shaver expected in December. She is also survived by her niece, Kathy Bridwell, of Fort Collins, Colorado.

Alta was preceded in death by her husband, brother Craig Temple and sister Lucy Jane Holzinger.

Graveside services and interment will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at Yukon Cemetery in Yukon, Oklahoma.