Mary "Sister June" J. Hoffman

(Sister Alphonse Marie) June Hoffman grew up on the southwest side of Chicago and attended St. Gall School, where she was taught by Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. When she was in eighth grade, she was called to the school office where a Sister told June she might have a vocation to religious life and suggested she attend Holy Family Academy (HFA) in Beaverville. June enrolled at HFA in 1944. It is always a wondrous thing when a person has certainty about the path to which God is calling them. For June, that happened on a February night during Forty Hours Devotion, a special period of prayer. During midnight prayer, June became convinced that this was the time to move forward with her vocation. She spoke with the principal who told her to ask her mother for permission to enter the convent. (June's father had died when she was 4.) Over the years, the memory of June's approach must have brought many smiles to her mom's face. They were out on a shopping trip to pick out Easter outfits when June said, "I know how I can save you some money..." With her mother's approval, June the novitiate that July. Sister June taught for 30 years in the area, locally at Holy Family Academy, Beaverville, and St. Patrick Academy, Momence. She also taught at St. Gall, Chicago, and St. Mary Magdalene, Joliet. She served as novice director and provincial superior. Her last years of ministry were spent at St. Anne Center in Rockford, where she spread love and joy among the residents. Family love was the charism that first attracted Sister June to the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary and remained the driving force in her ministry of love and presence. Sister June Hoffman passed away peacefully at St. Anne Center on Dec. 13, 2023. 

Preceding her in death were her parents, Elizabeth and Alphonse; and siblings, Jack (Catherine), George (Lillian), Anne Marie (Michael) Alberts, Janet (Florian) Kordas and Delores (Cornelius) O'Leary; and nephew, Jackie. Surviving are 23 nieces and nephews; many grand-nieces and grand-nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews; scores of friends; and her Sisters, Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary.

A visitation for Sister June will be on Monday, December 18, 2023 from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.at Holy Family Catholic Church, 4401 Highcrest Road, Rockford, IL 61107. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow the visitation starting at 11:00 a.m., with The Very Reverend Phillip A. Kaim, S.T.L., VF and Reverend David E. Beauvais. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery in Beaverville, IL.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, until the 11 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Beaverville. Memorials may be made to Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, 2041 W. State Route 113, Kankakee IL 60901.