Rowell Hoff

Rowell Hoff (14 February 1928 - 27 August 2012, Hohhot China.) was an ESL (English as a second language) teacher and Bahá’í author. Raised in a Presbyterian Church he became an agnostic/atheist at the age of 18 until the mid-1950s while stationed in Japan. In late 1961 in Chicago he began to study the Bahá’í Faith and became Bahá’í in early 1962.

Education

Rowell Hoff received a BA from Parsons College, Fairfield, IA. (Parsons no longer exists) and a MA from the University of Iowa (Iowa City).

Military service

Rowell served 10 years in the USAFSS (United States Air Force Security Service) and was honorably discharge as T/Sgt in 1960. After service, worked about 2 years at Institutions Magazine (a trade journal), first as editorial assistant and then Advertising Manager. Following that he was a teacher of English as a Foreign Language in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and China.

Personal life

In 1950 he married Marguerite Musa. The couple divorced in 1962. The relationship produced 3 children and 4 grandchildren. He married Caroline Schuch (Carol) on March 13, 1962 in Bahá’í ceremony at her parents home in Unionville, MI. The relationship produced 3 children and 14 grandchildren.

The Hoffs lived in the Chicago area until 1969; followed by Santiago and La Romana, Dominican Republic between 1969-2000. In the Dominican Republic, both Rowell and Carol were members of the National Spiritual Assembly for many years. Carol also served for a number of years as Deputy of the Huqúqu’lláh in the Caribbean. In 2000 they moved through Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, and China.

Literary works

• “The Roads Home”, collection of poems, published in 1997 by George Ronald, Publisher, U.K.
• “Comments and Discoveries,” and a novel set in the Dominican Republic,
• “Don José and the Informer’s Son,” unpublished (as of 2009)