I wasn't around for the first 90 years of the school's existence, but over my years at Saint Ignatius, four men hold a unique position as pillars, if you will. The 4 to whom I refer all started in the years from 1967 through 1971, and all are either still teaching (Luzzi and Kizilevicus), or retired after the turn of the 21st century (Jim Connelly and Don Hoffman). I have already written about three of them: Luzzi, Kizilevicus and Connelly. To complete the circle...oops, square...I meant square...this article profiles Don Hoffman.
Don Hoffman came to Saint Ignatius from DePaul Academy in 1968, the year it closed, primarily as a librarian, but he also taught a few Latin classes. Eventually, he began reducing his library responsibilities and increasing his teaching load. Over the years, he has taught Latin and ancient history. Maybe there were other courses, but those are the ones that I'm familiar with.
I don't know why Don Hoffman's grammar school classmates nicknamed him "Doc", but it was, at least, prophetic. No, Don is not a doctor, nor does he have a doctorate, but he is a man of unfathomable intellect and academic achievements. He certainly has a scholarly manner, but did he have that persona in grammar school?
What seems to drive Don’s scholastic pursuits is his interest in, and loyalty to, the church, Saint Ignatius College Prep, and the classics (I don't know. Can you be "loyal" to the classics?). A case in point is exemplified by what happened in 1984 when a water pipe broke in the school library. While Don was assisting with moving the materials to a safer spot, he came across the schools archives. They were in such a mess, that he took several courses at a local university in archival organization, then did an internship for the Chicago Archdiocese so he could organize St. Ignatius’ archives. Don officially retired as a full time teacher in 2002 , but he continues to be the school’s archivist.
During his 44 year association with Saint Ignatius, Don was a grader and advisor for the College Board's AP Latin exam. He was, also, one of 5 indexers in the United States for the Catholic Library Association. The index is a bibliography of all things Catholic. This position required that he be able to read and understand five languages, plus English, and place article and documents within the bibliography based on their content.
Using his knowledge of canon law, Don continues to assist those seeking an annulment of their marriage on the required procedure. Additionally, he is tutoring students in Latin who are being home-schooled, and this fall, he will be teaching church Latin to seminarians at St. Joseph Seminary.
This isn't even the complete list of his academic activities past and present, but it gives a pretty good idea what I meant at the beginning when I said, "He is a man of unfathomable intellect and academic achievements." I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
