Sylvia Hofsepian

Sylvia A. Hofsepian of Abington passed away peacefully on September 1 at the Pat Roche Hospice Home in Hingham, at eighty-eight years of age.  Her niece Karen was at her side.

Sylvia was born in Boston and grew up in Boston and the Berkshires city of North Adams.  She graduated from North Adams State Teachers College before returning to eastern Massachusetts in 1954.  She was a beloved first-grade teacher who taught for five years at the North Elementary School and twenty-five years at the Woodsdale Elementary School, both in Abington.   Because she loved teaching and wanted every child to have a good learning experience and see how exciting learning is, just before the beginning of each school year she would take her young niece Susan to school, and they would happily decorate the classroom with bright colors, pictures, and incentives for learning.  After she retired, she wrote a children’s book, “Why Not?”, which was published in 1991 by Four Winds Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Co.  She was so happy to present the staff at Abington’s Wales Library with her book, and according to the Patriot Ledger on September 16, 1991, the first children to read her story were the first-grade students at Woodsdale.

Throughout her life, she loved birds and animals, and fed them and took care of them in her yard whenever she found them in need.  She traveled all over the United States, was a bird-watcher, and skied in the winter.  She loved to bake, listen to music, and knit and crochet beautiful gifts for her family and friends.

Sylvia was predeceased by her youngest sister and her sister’s husband, Joyce and Fred Travnicek of Reston, Virginia.  She leaves two sisters, Elinor Adams of Marstons Mills and Marion Starkey, and Marion’s husband Gil, of South Weymouth;  four nieces, Susan Murphy of York, ME,  Lynn Cunniff, and Lynn’s husband Craig, of Hanover,   Karen Starkey of Pembroke, and Bryna Stewart, and Bryna’s husband Richard, of Arlington, VA;  and a nephew, Egan Travnicek, of Newington, VA.  Sylvia also leaves two great-nieces, Alexandra Murphy and Sophia Stewart; and three great-nephews, Maxwell and Peter Cunniff, and Alexander Stewart.

A memorial service will be held at a later time.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Talking Information Center, 130 Enterprise Drive, Marshfield, MA 02050, or to Rosie’s Place, 889 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02118.