Happy Birthday!

 Sisters and Friends Forever!

Donna Sue and Bobbie
My birthday gift of a poem to her a few years ago




Today my sister Donna Sue Null Hoffman would be 77 years old. Three years without her has left a hole in my days. She called every day to check on me. She was like a second mother when we moved from our childhood home, I was five and she was eleven, and my mom remarried and worked full time. She took me under her wing and continued looking out for me until the day she died. One of the last things she told me when she was very ill in the hospital just before her death was she needed to take me shopping at Beall's (FL) and buy me clothes. She'd learned that I had bought some clothes at a local thrift store. (I love thrift stores. Her - not so much.) I asked her then what Beall's had that she liked so much. She said, "Pretty things." I asked her how she intended to get us to Beall's since she was in the hospital. She'll said I'll call a cab. I was surprised that she didn't say my father will take us. At the end she called my brother in law, Brownie, father. He was her second skin and gave her the very best all her life. His kindness extended to me as well and continues to extend to me. I know my Susie is in Heaven with mother and daddy and our siblings. Some day my earthly ache will be gone. RIP dear Sue. We'll meet again.

Brownie, Sue, and Bobbie Ann

James "Brownie" Hoffman, Donna Sue Null Hoffman


Donna’s Birthday Poem Oh, Donna Dear, your Birthday's here, Whatever shall I do? Dance without shoes? Sing you the Blues? But, ugh, those reviews! You're near to my heart, Sister. You gave me my start. So here's a poem-present and I hope your day's pleasant. I'll start with, “I love you,” but, will that do, For a sister who loaned me her white buck shoes, And her very last bottle of Halo Shampoo? You danced and twirled and my straight hair you curled. A black-eyed beauty, you took serious this sister-duty, While I spent my days in a summer haze You walked us through that sister-maze. Can you remember the smell of that sweet clover? "Red Rover, Red Rover, Send my sister, Donna, on over!" Oh, to spend one more day of my youth with you. We'd even invite cousin Anna and cousin Sue. For old times sake, fudge and popcorn we'd make. And, to the Boogie Man an iron skillet I'd take! Maybe we'll never make it to the moon, But can you come over real ... uh, ... how do you spell SOON? In memory of my aggravating ways And our letter-writing days. I love you still. I always will. Your Little Sister, Bobbie

When we were kids, we wrote letters to my sister Ella who was in London with her husband Paul who was in the Air Force. I couldn't spell and I drove Sue nuts asking her every few minutes how to spell something. Like D-E-A-R E-L-L-A. She threatened to quit writing altogeher if I was't quiet. I NEVER was. She loved me anyway.

Happy Birthday, Susie.

Sue, my granddaughter Mackenzie, Brownie


Special Family Members who share Sue's Birthday
Our Beloved Sister In Law, Eunice, RIP Eunice
Our Beloved cousin, Dencil, RIP Dencil
Niece Tracey. Happy Birthday, dear sweet Tracey - have a
great one!