By:Nick Buglione
For decades, the Hoeffner name has been synonymous with East Meadow. In 1914 the family purchased the inn situated in what is today the East Meadow town square, inside Veterans Memorial Park, at the corner of East Meadow and Prospect Avenue.
In the years predating the park and square, that plot of land was simply known as Hoeffner-s Corner. A Town of Hempstead sign marks the site as a historical landmark.
The inn the Hoeffners purchased dated back to the 1840s, and had been run by five different owners. The Hoeffners operated it until Prohibition, when they became farmers. Raymond Hoeffner was the last member of the family born in the house. The structure was moved to Old Bethpage Restoration Village in 1963.
In his adult years, Hoeffner lived in a home on Lenox Avenue and ran a family contracting company that built a number of parks in the Town of Hempstead, including Baldwin Park and Newbridge Road Park in Bellmore.
In his lifetime, Hoeffner saw East Meadow change from a tiny farming community into a suburban Mecca, and loved to talk neighborhood history. When I sat at the grand opening of the East Meadow town square [in Veterans Memorial Park], he told me where every tree was transplanted from, his son Raymond Hoeffner Jr. said. He and his brothers transplanted every one of them.
Hoeffner, who retired at 51, was passionate about aviation and was a licensed pilot. He was also a boating enthusiast and loved working with his hands. He loved repairing clocks, his son said. Taking them apart and putting them back together.
He enjoyed the basic things in life, his son continued. He was just a very humble, easygoing guy. He loved peanut butter and jelly just as much as lobster.
Scores of people turned out at the O-Shea Funeral Home to pay their last respects to Hoeffner, who was buried in the St. Brigid Roman Catholic Church section of Holy Rood Cemetery, an older part of the cemetery. A wreath has been placed in the East Meadow town square, the site of Hoeffner-s birth.
He is survived by his wife, Edna, two sons, Raymond Jr. and Frederick, two grandchildren, Colin and Amy, and a sister, Matilda Pratt.
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
