Bruce Hofman
The family at our son’s wedding, at the ranch, complete with Barn Dance
After leaving TMR, I moved to Toronto and started an apprenticeship, as a Lithographer, at Canadian General Electric, Print Division. In 1968 I met Elaine and we were married in May of that year. It seems to have worked, because 42 years later we’re still happily married. In 1973 our daughter Laura was born and in 1974 our son James arrived.
For the first 24 years after High School, I worked for two printing companies. We moved to Oshawa, Ont., raised our family and in my spare time I restored two Century Homes. In 1987 I left the security of General Printers and bought a small bankrupt print shop with sales of about $80,000.00 per year. By 2001 I had managed to increase sales to over $1M per year, but the printing industry was changing rapidly and it seemed time to change course. We sold our printing company and the four industrial units that housed the shop, our home of 22 years, and our cottage. At this point we flirted with the idea of retirement. But at 54, we felt we were too young to retire and that the days might get very long. So we bought a small ranch near Omemee, Ontario (close to Peterborough, Ontario). We’ve restored a third century home, built ponds, cleared 3 km. of nature trails through our woodland, built bridges, moved rock and cleared pasture. The work seems endless. Over the summer months, we raise about 40 head of beef cattle. As you can see from the photo, prime rib at $4/lb hasn’t helped my waistline.
In November of 2009, we began a new venture, a small, 3000 sq. ft. custom cabinet-making shop, housed in the barn on the property.
Our children and five grandchildren all live in Woodstock Ont., a short 3 hour drive from here. Both Laura and Jamie are University graduates, Laura has a MBA, Jamie has a BFA in Music. For those of you who remember me from high school, he’s a school teacher. Go figure.
Looking out our living room window to the back of the property, about 1 km. away
Our home