Individual Details

Luther Francis Hoffpauir joined the US Navy as a 21 year old on July 2, 1926 , and served 4 years. He was to relate to us later that he had to get an older sister to sign that his birth date was actually as he stated, since all records of his birth had been destroyed in a church fire years earlier. There are stories that my Mother related to me years ago that seem to indicate that he was being accused of having gotten a young girl pregnant. He swore that the had never touched her, but as there was no way to "prove" parentage in those days, he simply joined the navy. His service included stints on the USS Ludlow, USS Tanager, USS Kingfisher, and USS Vireo. He served mainly in the Pacific, and often told us stories about the times he spent in the Hawaiian Islands, and other South Pacific Islands. After four years overseas, the incident had been resolved one way or the other, and he was free to court my Mother, and later marry her.
In the years before joining the Navy Luther worked at various jobs ranging from farm hand to store clerk. We have a photo of him as a young man, standing in a general store. In later years, just a few years before his death, he was given the photo when an older sister passed away. Looking at it, he began to recall the store and the people who ran it. He even could recall the name of a colored man standing in the back of the picture, who worked with him at the store.
At some time, Luther assumed the name Frank. His discharge papers show him as Luther Frank, and I can remember in later years he always signed his name as L. Frank. His siblings always called him Luther, however. At the funeral of his older sister, Sue, his sisters (Lulu and Jewel) still called him Luther. They said that was what their mother had named him, and that was what they would call him.
After the Navy, Frank worked mainly as a carpenter until getting a job with Huber Oil, the local "jobber" in Lake Charles. He had many assignments in a long career with Huber, most of them involving maintenance work. He was very good with his hands, and despite only an eighth grade formal education, he taught himself whatever he needed to know. I remember him telling me about designing the layout for a service station in Lake Charles. He said that an engineer had been called out by his boss to check Dad's elevations. The engineer said that all of the elevations were correct, but that he had never seen anyone "shoot elevations" the way that Frank did. Frank used a folding ruler, and had his assistant hold the ruler upside down, so that the larger numbers were at the bottom, rather than as the professional surveyors did, with the smaller numbers at the bottom. If you think about it, Dad's way is more intuitive.... when viewed through the level, the higher elevations are viewed with larger numbers.... makes sense to me that way!
After Anna died in 1990, Dad lived with me and with my brother Jerry, about half time with each. These were not very happy years for Dad. He didn't have many friends, and really didn't want to do anything other than watch television and read. He often said that he had loved to read when he was young, but never had the time to do it. He really got a lot of reading caught up in those later years. Jerry relates that Dad fell unconscious sitting in front of the television set, with a book in his lap. He was 90.

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Birth	22 Feb 1905	Ebenezer, Acadia Parish, LA
Marriage	13 Jul 1932	Alexandria, Rapides Parish, LA - Anna Marie Aucoin
Sig. Dates	22 Jul 1939	Catholic Church Wedding - Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, LA
Death	8 May 1995	Mesquite, Dallas County, TX
Burial	13 May 1995	Highland Mem. Gardens, Lake Charles, LA
Alt name		Frank
Soc Sec No		435-10-8015

Spouse	Anna Marie Aucoin (1910 - 1990)
Child	Luther Francis Hoffpauir Jr. (1934 - )
Child	Charles Richard "Charlie" Hoffpauir (1939 - )
Child	Jerry Lynn Hoffpauir (1942 - )
Child	Teddy Lane Hoffpauir (1945 - )

Father	Ivy L. Hoffpauir (1869 - 1940)
Mother	Lulu Hoffpauir (1876 - 1944)
Sibling	Nettie Hoffpauir (1894 - 1925)
Sibling	Susan Hoffpauir (1896 - 1993)
Sibling	Theodore Ulysses Hoffpauir (1898 - 1975)
Sibling	Tressie Eula Hoffpauir (1900 - 1982)
Sibling	Travis Benson Hoffpauir (1902 - 1980)
Sibling	Lucy Emma Hoffpauir (1907 - 1988)
Sibling	Clyde Ivy Hoffpauir (1909 - 1981)
Sibling	Glynn Phillip Hoffpauir (1911 - 1987)
Sibling	Lula Lease "Lulu" Hoffpauir (1915 - 1997)
Sibling	Jewel Ruth Hoffpauir (1917 - 2000)

Notes