Mr. Louis Donovan Boyce Hoff was born in Hamlin, WV October 23, 1909 to A.W. and Lucy Hoff. Before his fifth birthday, his father had remarried (1914). The 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses show him living with his mother's parents, the Johnsons. His mother does not appear again in the census until 1940, indicating she was married to a different guy (from Rural, Ohio) and living with her parents, also.
In the late 1930s, Mr. Hoff received his degree from Morris Harvey College, where he played basketball (1928-29; 1929-30; 1930-31; 1931-32).
http://ucgoldeneagles.com/custompages/Historical%20Records/Men's%20Basketball%20Decade%20Info.pdf
The 1940 census shows Mr. Hoff teaching in the Hamlin, WV area. Most likely, he married Mary Kathryn McClure in late 1940 or early 1941. Their first child Louie (was "Butch" in RHHS 1959) was born December 1941. Rodney, their second child, was born March 1943 (RHHS 1961). Mr. Hoff served in the Navy 1943 - 1945. From a passage in a book called ECHOES by Josephine “Jo” McComas Fulks, Louie Hoff was Director of the County Band that included students from Guyan Valley, Hamlin, and Duval (all in WV), maybe 1948 - 1955. Online extracts from newspapers in the West Virginia area indicate he followed Alfonso Nicosia to Rock Hill in 1955 (Louie's grandmother died in 1955). Paul Mackey, also from West Virginia, did not join them in Rock Hill until 1960.
Most of us are acquainted with his time in Rock Hill. In 1975 after being the band director at Northwestern High School for a few years, he and his wife retired to Calais, Maine. Eventually they left Maine and traveled to California (his son Rodney still lives there). Several years later he and his wife moved again to Newport, Oregon, where he died in 1986. Mrs. Hoff (former Mary Kathryn McClure) returned to West Virginia and died September 30, 1992.
Louie Hoff NWHS 1975
This URL is to a video of an art exhibition done by Mr. Hoff's daughter-in-law Elizabeth Featherstone Hoff (has FB page). In it you will see a man who resembles our Mr. Hoff - Lou (aka "Butch") Hoff - ~ 20 sec into the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ocJQvMA-zc#t=75
Elizabeth and Lou met while he was a member of the band, Ten Wheel Drive (1969 - 1974??) - you can find their music on YouTube. They presently live on Staten Island, NY.