Dolores B. Hoeh

AUBURN – Dolores Bencina Hoeh, 89, passed away after a brief stay at Androscoggin Hospice House in Auburn, Maine on Nov. 25, 2023, and following a 7-month residence at Schooner Memory Care in Auburn.

Lorrie was born on July 1, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Ann and Stan Bencina. She grew up in Cleveland on East 78th Street in the Slovenian neighborhood, a heritage of which she was proud. Educated in the Cleveland public schools, she fondly recalled her academic adventures in the “Major Works” program. She was an only child, but the oldest of many cousins, whom she enthusiastically marshaled and mentored. Family was her highest value.

At Hiram College in northeastern Ohio she majored in French and socializing, and met Richard C. (Mike) Hoeh, her eventual husband of 60 years, with whom she bore three daughters. Mike’s career with Goodyear situated the family in Albany, New York, Akron, Ohio, Mattapoisett, Mass., and North Canton, Ohio, over the years of child-rearing. In each location Lorrie was actively involved in various pursuits: notably, Brownie and Girl Scout leadership, Unitarian Fellowship organizing, and participation in the Fresh Air Program for city youth seeking summer adventure.

In her ‘40s she obtained a master’s degree in counseling from Akron University and subsequently worked as a guidance counselor in public schools.

Married to a committed fisherman, Lorrie eagerly embraced the pursuit of trout in Canada, ever at the ready to clean the fish she (of exceptional fishing luck) and the family caught on their vacations in Algonquin Park, her avowed favorite place. Camping and fishing were among her fondest pastimes, and she passed her appreciation of nature on to her children and her Girl Scouts.

Upon early retirement in 1987, Lorrie and Mike moved to Albany Township, Maine, where they avidly engaged in community activities of Bethel. For many years Lorrie was the Albany Twp. correspondent for the Bethel Citizen. She volunteered with the Bethel Historical Society, the Bethel Library, and the Bethel Area Health Center; taught Parenting classes in Adult Ed, acted in the Bethel Senior Players, and was a central figure in the local fiber spinning group. She was also an enthusiastic fund-raiser on annual walks for breast cancer research, in memory of a favorite aunt.

In 2010. Lorrie and Mike moved to in-town Bethel, where she loved identifying their property location as “the corner of Eden and Paradise.” After the passing of Mike in 2017, she continued to reside there with their dog, Ziggy, until 2021 when she moved to an apartment at Schooner Estates in Auburn.

Lorrie was an enthusiastic grandmother to six grandchildren, and an irrepressible publicity agent for them. She enjoyed preparing Slovenian specialties, canning and pickling, employing adages (“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!”), crossword puzzles, music, dancing, travel, martinis, red wine, wildflowers, wild birds, foreign languages, family gatherings, and nature in general.

She was predeceased by her parents and her husband Richard Hoeh, and is survived by three daughters and their spouses: Cynthia and Paul Stancioff of Camden; Katherine and Kenneth Griffin of Biddeford; and Martha and Kirk Siegel of Albany Township; six grandchildren including Elisabeth Stancioff of New Orleans, Owen Griffin and wife Mila of Arlington, Virginia, Louisa Stancioff of Warren, Maine, Amalia Siegel of Rockland, Maine, Robert Griffin and partner Sydney Graboyes of Sacramento, California, and Andrew Siegel of Laramie, Wyoming; and the fulfillment of her wish for a great-grandchild, Inessa Dolores Griffin of Arlington, Virginia.

Online condolences and fond memories may be shared on Lorrie’s tribute page at http://www.albert-burpee.com.

Arrangements are entrusted to Albert & Burpee Funeral Home & Cremation Services 253 Pine St. Lewiston, 782-7201.

A memorial service will be held in Bethel in the spring, place and time to be determined.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mahoosuc Land Trust, a passion of both

Lorrie and Mike.



Comments are no longer available on this story