Recent Obituaries

Frieda Marie Hoffman was born November 13th, 1929 in Newburgh, New York to German immigrants Fred and Paula Hoffman.

After moving to Seattle, Washington in 1941 with her younger sister Margarita and their mother Paula, Frieda attended Warren Avenue Elementary School and Queen Anne High School. Soon after graduating from Queen Anne in 1947, she found her first fulltime job as an office bookkeeper at a Seattle paint store. She enjoyed her job there for about two years. In the autumn of 1950 she went to work as a Central Files office clerk at the Boeing Plant 2 Administration Building. Within a month or so she met Denny Risvold through a mutual friend. Denny had been a Boeing employee since July 1948. Denny and Frieda were married on November 21st, 1951 in the Chapel of the Pilgrim Congregational Church on Capital Hill in Seattle.

Frieda was a very private person, but those who gained her confidence, especially longtime journalistic correspondents, knew her as thoughtful and caring. Although not an overtly religious person, she believed in God, and the possibility of everlasting life. She was an independent spirit and thinker.

Frieda passed away on January 17th, 2025, to finally rejoin her dearly loved husband Denny Risvold who had passed away on May 15th, 2022. They had been married for over 70 years.

She leaves behind 1 of her children, Lisa Brown, and 12 grandchildren, and many great grands. Frieda was predeceased by her parents, her younger sister Margarita Hrvatin, her son Mark David Risvold, and her older daughter Kathleen (Kati) Dettmer, her son Scott Risvold, and her geart-grandson Beau Zetzsche.

Frieda enjoyed gardening, reading and writing poetry and stories of her childhood. Several pieces of her writing have been published. She began researching her family history in the early 1990s, and made some astounding discoveries, including finding some unknown branches of her family tree.

As per Frieda’s wishes, there will be no memorial or Church services at this time. Perhaps later there may be a family gathering to scatter both Denny’s and Frieda’s ashes together in a special happy place.

God Bless Us All.