Local woman vies for pageant title

Island Park resident Dolores Hofman is one of the contestants in the 2016 Ms. New York Senior America Pageant will take place on April 3 at Hofstra University.

Ed Hofman and Dolores met in 1964; Ed was the President of his freshman class at Hofstra University, while Dolores was still in high school.  This meeting took place in a pub. It was love at first sight and they married in 1968.

Dolores attended Farmingdale University and started her aviation career with Pan American World Airways.  During her twenty-three years with them, she worked her way through the ranks of the Cargo (as the first female to drive a forklift and unload trucks at Kennedy Airport), material and personnel departments. 

Today, as program manager of the Queens Air Services Development Office, Dolores matches aviation purchasing needs with Queens’ businesses. 

She has been involved with numerous public and civic-minded organizations. Dolores is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce which named her and Ed “Business Persons of the Year” in 2004, a former member of the Air Cargo Association, she also served on the Board for the Animal Protection Institute of America, and is a 35 year member and Past President (for 17 years) of Animal Lifeline. Dolores serves as vice president of the JFK Rotary, is on the Advisory Board of Vaughn College, Advisor to the Board of Directors of the JFK Airport Chamber of Commerce, and was named one of the Queens Courier and Queens Business Today Newspapers “Top Woman in Business” in 2011 as well as the School Sisters of Notre Dame’s Mardi Gras Queen! 

In 1997, she received the Bishop Wright Air Industry Award naming her their “Woman of the Year,” and in 2003, was named “Woman of the Year” by Our Lady of the Skies Catholic Chapel, making her the first recipient of both prestigious airport awards.  Dolores was the recipient of the Queens Council of the Boy Scouts’ Leadership award in 2009.

The pageant returns to Nassau County for a third year in a row after having been held in Suffolk County for many years.  The New York Senior America Organization features 15 women contestants aged 60 years or older, who best exemplify the qualities of the modern dynamic senior.  The winning 2016 Queen will receive a $1,000 cash prize.

The judges will select the “Queen and her Court” and the winner will go on to Atlantic City in October to compete with queens from other states for the coveted National Crown and title of Ms. Senior America.