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- [S927] Obituary.
Eleanor Veronica Hoffer Scharosch was born on Nov. 11, 1923, to Fred and Minnie Hoffer in Dickinson, N.D. She contracted polio at nine months and never regained the use of her legs. As the oldest of six children, Eleanor credited her close, loving family with her indomitable outlook and extraordinary accomplishments. She traveled three times to Shriners’ Hospital in Minneapolis as a child, where she stayed by herself months at a time for surgeries and brace fittings. At age 10, she traveled home unaccompanied and “had a ball on the train.”
In 1943, after graduating from high school in Dickinson, Eleanor traveled to Sacramento, Calif., where she completed a business course but returned to her family immediately upon graduation to stay “forever.”
In 1945, she met and married Adam “Sharky” Scharosch and gave birth to a son, Wayne John, in Laurel, where she and Sharky had followed her parents and younger siblings to live and work. In 1953, after moving to Billings (again to be near her family), Sharky died suddenly from a heart attack. Eleanor supported herself and Wayne, working for Farmers Insurance, Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church, C & M Construction and Winter Hardware as a secretary and bookkeeper from 1955 until her retirement in 1977. Eleanor’s fierce loyalty, independence and work ethic enriched the lives of her family in great and small ways. She owned her own home (to which she added a pool to maintain her strength), drove her own car and helped raise her youngest siblings and their children, as well as her son and grandchildren. She traveled the country to help her family whenever and wherever there was a need. She was great fun and irrepressibly positive.
She lived at Prairie Towers for 27 years after she “retired,” but continued to fill her days with work, service and family. She especially enjoyed sewing and crocheting, reading and doing extensive genealogy research, and spending time with Wayne and his family at their cabin on the Stillwater. She was devoted to her Catholic faith and to Saint Patrick’s in Billings. For the past nine years, she has resided at Aspen Meadows — seven years in Assisted Living Center and the last two years at Timbers.
Eleanor inspired all of us with her everyday courage, her love of life and generosity of spirit. Eleanor is survived by her brother, Richard Hoffer; her sister, Jean McNally; her daughter-in-law, Sharon Scharosch; granddaughters, Lynn (Randall Gustin), Michele (Ben Johnson); and four great-grandchildren, Jacob and Catherine Gustin, Ian and Sofia Johnson; as well as many nieces and nephews, grand- and great-grand-nieces and nephew. She is preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Herman and John; sister, Florence; and her beloved son, Wayne.
Our family wishes to sincerely thank everyone at the Aspen Meadows campus for their generous love and compassion they expressed to Eleanor over these many years.
Those wishing to donate in Eleanor’s name to a charity, please consider St. Vincent DePaul Society, 2610 Montana Ave., Billings, MT 59101; or the charity of your choice.
Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 21, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 2055 Woody Drive. Interment will be in Little Bighorn National Cemetery.
Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary is assisting with arrangements. Condolences may be made online at www.michelottisawyers.com.
In Eleanor’s words, “there is nothing better in the world than being loved and missed by family.”
That, she will always be….
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1923 - 2016 (92 years)