"DaMama," Mary Dean Hofelich, passed quietly and gently on Saturday, October 24 at IU Health Methodist Hospital after surgeries and complications, surrounded by grandchildren and her children holding her hands. Our tiny little feisty matriarch was 85, born on January 14, 1941, and she never let us forget it. Her response for almost any conflict was always, "When you're my age..."

Born the first child of Leo and Dollie Hearld's eight, she's survived by two sisters, Rebecca and Zelma in North Vernon, and one brother, Terry Dan, in Fort Wayne. She married John Michael Hofelich in July of 1960 in Greensburg. John and Dean had nine children, raised eight survivors - sons: John (Randi) Hofelich II, Joseph (Linda) Hofelich, Terry Matthew "Pete" Hofelich (Brandi Boaz), and Sam (Sheila) Hofelich, daughters: LeAnne (Wayne) Blackerby, C. Delynne "Dede" Wilson (David Bishop), Andrea (Troy) South, and Erin (Ed) Goetting and produced a legacy of 32 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren so far. We're only half-started. 😉 World domination is not unforeseeable.

A sterling product of her generation, Dean helped raise her siblings while her parents worked outside the home. She attended and graduated from Burney High School in Decatur County in 1959, one of a class of 14 students. Musically talented, she played trombone by ear and sang on stage for school productions as well as a few later professional gigs with her brother Andy. She was a baton-twirling majorette and member of the volleyball team. A natural athlete, she also played pickup games of fast pitch softball at the school diamond and instilled that love of the game into her entire family, especially the four girls. Later in life, one of her greatest loves was attending her daughters' games and making new family among the other softball parents and players. Those are still her strongest friendships today.

Mom's career started in restaurants as a server. She met Dad when she was a waitress at her aunt and uncle's restaurant in Greensburg, IN. She had dragged her finger through the side drip of a butterscotch pie, and Dad trailed his behind her. He chased her for the following 50 years until he passed at 75 in 2011. She followed up with long-term stints as an insurance secretary in both Columbus and North Vernon, and finally with 27 years as an admitting clerk at what would become Columbus Regional Hospital. After retiring, she just couldn't quit and worked for DeDe at her Idle Zone bar and then cooked for several years for the preschoolers at Andi's Dream a Little Dream Daycare until she was almost 80.

Everybody was welcome at daMama's table, and she was a fabulous and painstaking cook. Her sausage gravy was its own food group and the most requested by every generation. If she loved you, you got biscuits and gravy. She didn't know that anyone could make pies in batches of fewer than six and later extended the Thanksgiving order to almost 30. It was a massive production engaging three generations of Hofelich women. She ruled her kitchen like a queen. Nobody went home without their own pies. Yeah, plural. But her Thanksgivings routinely fed 50-60 of us and anyone else who showed up.

Dean, Deanie, Mary Dean loved clothes and shoes especially, as well as jewelry. Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, daMama wore bracelets wherever she goes. Wrists and ankles. We teased her incessantly about her toe rings. Except for her last trip to the hospital, she was still wearing heels on her boots. Pedicures were de rigeur. And nobody could take away her leather jackets. Not one. Two. Because. If she liked a shoe, shirt, or trousers, she most likely owned the same piece in multiple colors.

A modest person herself, her pride in her brood was unlimited.

A celebration of her life will be held at Sawyer-Pickett in North Vernon on Friday, October 30, 2026, from 11am until 6:30 pm when eulogies will be presented. Memorials may be made in her memory to Wayside Inn and the family requests that flowers be purchased through Amari Arrangements & Gifts LLC in Columbus, Indiana.