Eva Margaret Hofert of Milford (formerly of Pontiac and Waterford) passed away on October 5, 2023, at 103 years old. Eva was born April 14, 1920, in Metamora, Michigan to the late Frank Harvey and the late Josephine Orcelia Hibbler (nee Stiff). Eva grew up on a farm in Imlay City and started working there as a young teenager. She was very determined, and her ambitions led her to break through the social norms of her generation.
At the age of 19, she left home and went to work as a maid for a family in Pontiac, cooking, cleaning and taking care of two young children for seven dollars a week. During World War II, between 1943 and 1945, she worked for a Novi company making incendiary bombs for $42 a week, saving her money to go to beauty school, and living with her sister Hazel in Wixom. In 1945, when she was 25 years old, Eva went to beauty school in Detroit, graduating in 11 months. She worked at three different beauty shops in Detroit, and eventually met her future husband, Melvin Fockler, whom she married in 1955.
Eva left Detroit and joined Melvin on his farm in Croswell, where they raised soybeans, dairy cows, quite a large garden of vegetables, and a family. Daughter Sharon was born April 11, 1957, and Eva actively supported her daughter in Girl Scouts and 4-H activities. To help supplement the family’s farm income, all three Focklers worked at Aunt Jane’s pickle plant in Croswell. Eva was a great home cook, known for making the tastiest pies from scratch.
In order to join her harmonica-playing sister Mamie and fiddle-playing brothers Floyd and Herold, Eva taught herself how to play guitar. The siblings would often play folk and country music at local jamborees and entertain at the annual Hibbler Family reunions. She was a woman of great faith and was most recently a member of Clarkston United Methodist Church and formerly a member of First United Methodist Church of Capac and Bethel United Methodist Church of Croswell, where she served with the United Methodist Women and sang in the choir. Eva lost her husband Melvin in 1990 after a long illness, and later met Willard Hofert. They married in 1994 and Eva gained a new family and more friends when she went to live on the Hofert family farm in Capac.
Eva is survived by son-in-law Stephen Thomas, granddaughter Isabel Thomas, stepson Warren Hofert, nieces Beatrice VanWagoner, Arlene Corriveau and Holly Dowling, and nephews Wayne Terpening, Lyle and Allen Hibbler.
She was preceded in death by her loving husbands Melvin Charles Fockler and Willard Carl Hofert, daughter Sharon Lynn Thomas, and all of her siblings: Luther Harvey Hibbler, Mamie Orcelia Hibbler, Fernie May (Harley) Terpening, Mildred Catherine (Clarence) Headley, Hazel Hilda (Harold) Muir, Dorothy Beatrice (Lyman) Bush, Floyd Franklin (Berneda) Hibbler, Herold Lyle (Ruth) Hibbler, and Marie Gladys Hibbler.
Several nieces and nephews preceded her in death, including David, Paul, Kathleen, Marjorie and Margaret.
The family also appreciates the many years of friendship, faithful service and visits of Nadine Knoblock.
A memorial service will be held at Bethel United Methodist Church (8020 Babcock Rd., Croswell, MI 48422) on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 11 a.m.
Interment will take place at Croswell Cemetery at a later date.
