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Dorothy Mae (Dean) Hoft, 83, passed away on July 28, 2009 at 10:30 p.m. at the home of her son, James, with whom she had lived since the summer of 2001. Dorothy has had failing health for the past several years.

Funeral services will be held in the chapel of Laufersweiler-Sievers Funeral Home at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, August 1st and at 10 a.m. at Corpus Christi Church the Mass of Christian Burial will be officiated by the Rev. Shane Deman. Burial will be in Wall Lake Cemetery, Wall Lake, Iowa, at 1 p.m. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, July 31st, where there will be a vigil for the deceased at 7 p.m. at the funeral home.

Dorothy was born on August 7, 1925, in Charles City, Iowa, the eldest child of Ralph Dean and Alice Clifford Dean. Dorothy grew up in Herring, Iowa and attended Odebolt High School/Normal School, where she graduated in the class of 1943 with a license to teach Country School. Dorothy taught Country School in Viola Township in Sac County, Iowa for a year and then briefly worked for the Treasury Department in Chicago, Illinois.

She married Norman North Hoft, on August 18, 1944 in St. Joseph's Rectory in Wall Lake, Iowa. Norman was serving in the U.S. Army and they lived in Sioux Falls, S.D., where he was stationed. During the war their first child was born. After the war they lived in Storm Lake, Iowa while Norman attended Buena Vista College and where their next three children were born. They moved to Des Moines where their fifth child was born and where Dorothy taught second grade at St. Pius X School from 1956 until 1958. In March of 1958 the family moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa. Dorothy worked with her husband in their business, Hoft Truck and Trailer service doing the bookkeeping for 29 years. Four of their nine children were born in Fort Dodge. Later, after they closed their business in Fort Dodge, they moved to Des Moines, Iowa where Dorothy managed apartments for several years until she moved to Saint Louis.

Dorothy was very active in her church and community, where she sang in the choir, served on many committees, and was very active in the PTA. She was highly respected for her caring, joyful and giving nature. Dorothy is especially remembered as a creative, talented, and loving mother, fostering the best in all of her children.

Dorothy Hoft is survived by her nine children, six sons and three daughters, Lynne Hoft of Minneapolis, Minn.; Norman "Bud" (Debbi) of O'Fallon, Mo.; Susan (Ben) Goecke of Mankato, Minn.; Tim (Maria) of St. Louis, Mo.; Rebecca (Gary) Poen of Nodaway, Iowa; Chris (Lisa) of Dallas, Texas; Joe (Catherine) of Wentzville, Mo.; Jim of St. Louis, Mo.; and Mike (Virginia) of Arlington, Texas. She is also survived by her two sisters, Shirley Prochnow of Deerfield, Ill. and Betty (Charlie) Oswald of Mapleton, Iowa. Also, she is survived by 16 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of sending flowers, the family prefers that donations be sent to: the Hospice Patient fund, BJC Hospice, P.O. Box 504043, St. Louis, MO 63150-0001; www.bjchospice.org. Please note that your donation is in memory of Dorothy Hoft