Alma Hofstadter, beloved mother and grandmother, died peacefully at the age of 88, on August 25th, 2017 in Ventura, California.

Alma was born in Queens County New York on March 24th, 1929, the daughter of Joseph Rubin and Dorothy Ginsberg-Rubin. Alma attended Forest Hills High School in New York before graduating from New York University where she majored in English Literature.

In 1955 Alma moved to Miami, Florida with her husband Newton Hofstadter. Together they owned a Children’s Clothing Shop and later an expanding handbag and jewelry business. Alma and Newt raised three children, and taught by example the values of compassion and service to those in need.  Alma’s passion outside the home was volunteering with B’nai B’rith Women, eventually taking on leadership roles at the district, regional, and eventually national levels.

In 1996, Alma and Newt moved to Ventura, California to be closer to their children. There they learned to paint, created a hat business, volunteered for the Special Olympics, and became leaders of the PFLAG organization (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Alma also volunteered at Jewish Family Services, and was a Sisterhood board member at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura.

Alma is survived by her three children – Betsy Hofstadter and her wife Robin Page, Bill Hofstadter and his wife Laura Duncan-Hofstadter, and Ellen Hofstadter-Shapiro. Alma has four grandchildren – Kimberly Morrison, Nathan Hatch, Nathan Shapiro, and Billy Shapiro. Nathan and Billy remember their grandma for her clever wit, and the happiness she expressed whenever she saw them.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, August 29th at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park, 2052 Howard Road, in Camarillo, California, 93012, and officiated by Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller of Temple Beth Torah.

If My Life

If my life were to end today,

What would I leave behind?

When people remember the deeds I’ve done,

Would they be less than kind?

Would it be said I was honest and true,

How many would say, “I miss you?”

If my life were to end today,

What would people say?

If my life were to end today,

And I knew when that would be,

What final words would I choose to say,

To show how I thought of me?

Could I say, “I did the best I could

To strive to be holy and good?”

If my life were to end today,

What could I say?

Life is a loan, nobody knows

When the end is near,

So, all we can do is find a good

Reason to be here.

If my life were to end today,

And, all of my deeds recall,

Would the world be a better place

For my having lived at all?

Will anyone smile at the memory

Of time that they spent with me?

If my life were to end today,

What would they say?

If my life were to end today,

Would it have been worthwhile?

Did I do more than collecting things,

Making a bigger pile?

Have I made a difference, have I made a mark?

Have I cast light in the dark?

If my life were to end today,

What would people say?

- Michael Anatole, Cantor from Beth Torah Congregation -

...Family in the care of Erin Arteaga, Funeral Director

 Service Information