Ian Edwards Hoffmann

Ian Edwards Hoffmann Columbus, Ohio formerly of Columbia, SC- A Gathering of Remembrance will be held for Ian Edwards Hoffmann, 32, of Columbus, Ohio from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Sunday, June 12, 2016 at Temples Halloran Funeral Home, 5400 Bush River Road, Columbia, SC 20212. Ian passed away on May 30, 2016. Born in Lyndhurst, Ohio, he was the son of Pamela Edwards-Hoffmann and Donald James Hoffmann. He was a 2002 graduate of Hammond School and co-captain of the Varsity Soccer Team. Ian attended the College of Charleston on combined academic scholarships, and the University of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio) majoring in Biology. He was active in NAMI Franklin County, Columbus, Ohio, a Deacon in The Word Church of God in Christ and an active volunteer in the Food Pantry which the church sponsored. Ian described himself as a person of Peace. He sought to educate others about mental illness and to advocate for the improvement of mental health treatment for the disadvantaged. One of Ian’s thoughts and sayings: “Money doesn’t count. Soccer counts. Education counts. Smiles count...Friends, Family and God count most of all.” Surviving in addition to his parents; brother, Alexander Hoffmann (Samantha Scollon); Aunts, Nancy Hoffmann (Bob Carlson), Uncle Ray Hoffmann predeceased, Marilyn St. John (Uncle Gregory); Uncle Kenneth (Priscilla) Hoffmann, Aunt Sharon Hoffmann predeceased; cousins, Kristen (Peter) Asplin, Nathan (Michelle) Hoffmann, Brenda (Jason) Sammon, Emily (Brian) Hybben, Lindsay (Scott) Wallace and Erin St. John.Grandparents of Ian are Raymond and Ardath Hoffmann, and Ernest and Thelma Edwards, all deceased. On-line condolences may be sent to www.templeshalloranfuneralhome.com Ian Hoffmann 1-8-2002 College Of Charleston Essay Question #1 Money doesn’t count.Soccer counts.Smiles count. Friends, family count.As I sit here contriving an essay that could quite possibly determine the course of my life for the next forty years and beyond, being as developed and dynamic and sincere as two to three pages will allow, I’ll be frank in meandering my way to this point: I simply do it all to be happy.And coming to this point was not at all easy, especially from what happiness looked like before. Before, nothing greater existed than, say, a million dollars.What if I had a million dollars?Well I’d buy all the cool stuff that ever was.Material goods were where it was at.However, money is great, that is, until someone close to you dies.Then it’s just paper, or numbers on a screen.Happiness is not this, so to really find it I’ll start anew.I look at where my current labors will lead me: from adolescence comes high school, whose supreme efforts are demanded for admittance to a good college, where diligence there will project a career, and eventually retirement.But in light of public complaints and experience I understand that work would not make my life worthwhile, retain value as a whole.I then come to the conclusion that happiness is the road we all plan to take, one way or the other, whether it be as daily and apparently insignificant as a morning paper or coffee or as life changing as marriage.In light of this, contentment now is my ultimate goal.All blood, sweat, and tears I shed are to someday make me happy or to keep me sane until then.Yet this happiness I seek means little unless I know of what it consists.The next intellectual challenge I must query when coping with standards and expectations is the definition of my happiness.Sport I enjoy but not in any existence inspiring way, and by no means would I devote my life to it, lacking the importance people and sometimes I place on it.Music also keeps days merely days, not the life or death catastrophes they sometimes pretend to be.However these things do not constitute a life’s toil as I once thought they would, so I look and consequently find my comfort in something profound yet pedestrian as air: the guidance, tutelage and ambient joy of my friends and family.Why, yes, there was a horrible accident, but thank God everyone is OK.These people I see on an hourly basis yet without them I would be unable to survive.My labor consequently then is for them; to please them, to influence them by example, and to someday protect them from harms a harsh world may deal.With this in mind I am able to work with an unwavering assiduousness that normally incessant travail would impact.In conclusion, I’ll state that my humble talents are not for me but from me, and that a profession, no matter how noble its cause, should not interfere with one’s attention to these invaluable persons.Now in most likely of cases you are now returning to YOUR job, perhaps the focus of the purposes I have mentioned above.In any case, I’ll let you to your day with a word of the sought epitome of my life, and in hopes yours. Let your loved ones know they are.