Constance Anina Vandehey

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Constance Anina Vandehey at the age of 80.  She was surrounded by her loved ones, in her Keizer home at the time of her passing.  Connie was born on July 2, 1943 in Walla Walla, Washington. She was the daughter of Fred and Betty Hoffman.

At age 3 her family moved to Eugene, Oregon and then at age 6 they moved to Toledo, Oregon where Fred took over his dad’s tug boat business. Connie graduated from Toledo High School in 1961.

In November 1961, Connie met Bill Vandehey.  She moved to Salem and worked at Payless shoes.  They were married in November 1962 at Newport Catholic Church and divorced in 1967. They had two children, Christine born in 1963 and Deborah born in 1966.

In 1964, Connie went to work for the Department of Corrections in the HR department, and worked there for over 30 years.  She also worked various other jobs, including the Oregon Racing Commission, to raise her children and afford fun vacations for the family.  After she retired from the Department of Corrections, she went back to work for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife.  She was a very hard working individual, sometimes working up to three jobs at a time.

She met Jerry Halfman, her life partner while working for Department of Corrections.  They together enjoyed; camping with the grandkids, the beach, Sunriver, Kah-nee-ta, fishing on the Yaquina River, playing cribbage and pinnacle with family and friends, especially her Mom.  They enjoyed standing in line waiting for the new beanie babies to come out, sometimes taking some grandkids with them so they could buy extras.  Connie was an avid Blazer & football fan and enjoyed watching the games.  In everything she did, she always thought of others first.  She was a very giving person.  She was very fashionable from head to toe, including festive earrings, high heels to make her taller than 5 feet and very fashionable clothing.

Connie is preceded in death by her parents Fred and Betty Hoffman and her sister Demaris Mulvey.

Connie is survived by Life Partner Jerry Halfman, daughters Christine Winn and Deborah Jahn, brother Craig Hoffman, Jerry’s son’s Jeff, Travis and Josh, 9 Grandchildren and 4 great-Grandchildren.

There will be no public memorial service per Connie’s wishes.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Willamette Vital Health at www.wvh.org .

The family of Connie wishes to extend our sincere thanks to the Doctors, nurses, Aleca Home Health and Willamette Vital Health hospice care, for all they did for Connie during her illness.