Robert Henry Hoisington died 18 May 2020 in the Saint Vincent Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his wife, Alma, were long-term residents of the Brookdale Jones Farm retirement community on Carl T. Jones Drive, Huntsville. They lived briefly in assisted living at Brookdale Hampton Cove in Owens Cross Roads.
Bob was born in Washington D.C. on 15 March 1925 to Josephine Suing Hoisington, wife of then Captain Gregory Hoisington. Captain Hoisington was serving as the Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Johns Hopkins University. Raised as an “Army Brat” with his five siblings, Bob grew up at postings that included Maryland, Kansas, Mississippi, Alaska, and California.
During World War II Bob served as a tank crewman in the 12th Armored Division. His tank was destroyed and he was captured in fierce fighting around Herlisheim during Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive in the west. Surviving minor wounds and several months as a prisoner of war, he was awarded the Purple Heart when liberated. His sister Elizabeth, then a captain in the Women’s Army Corps serving in Paris, secured a jeep and helped find him after hostilities ceased.
After World War II Bob followed in the footsteps of his father and older brothers Gregory and Perry to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Here he met Dolores Archambeau, an Army Nurse and commissioned officer who had served in the Philippines. After Graduation Day, Bob and Dolores married. They had eight children.
Commissioned an infantry second lieutenant with the Class of 1950, Bob reported for duty with the 42nd Armored Infantry Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas. Subsequent assignments took him to Korea; Fort Benning, Georgia; Indianapolis; and Germany. He commanded a battalion in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. After language training in Monterrey, California, he served with MACV as an advisor in Vietnam from 1967-68. He then served for a year in the Headquarters of the Military District of Washington and as the Deputy Director of Athletics for the United States Military Academy from 1969 to 1974. His final assignment for the Army was as Team Chief of a Research Group at Redstone Arsenal. He retired in Huntsville in 1978.
Dolores passed away in 1973. Bob married Alma Buchanan in 1974. Bob is survived by Alma and her daughter, Deborah; his children, Mary Beth Brown (John), Margaret Ann Morris (Mike), Katherine Lauer (Carl), Robert H. Hoisington Jr. (Debra), Nancy Marie Yanhko, Gregory J. Hoisington, Barbara Jean Holcomb (Bill) and P. Douglas Hoisington (Cindy); his grandchildren, Amy L. Bowler, Robert S. Brown, Caitlin Keser, Suzanne Johnson, Robert H. Hoisington III, Michael Hoisington, Gregory Hoisington, Benjamen Yanhko, Jonathan Yanhko, Elizabeth Yanhko, Desiree Hoisington, Madeline Hoisington, William E Holcomb IV, Amanda Holcomb, Robert Holcomb, Andrew Hoisington, Daniel Hoisington, Michael Hoisington, Carrie Beth Hoisington, Hannah Hoisington and Katherine Hoisington; and by seventeen great-grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 AM on 5 June at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 13550 Chaney Thompson Road SE in Huntsville. Father Tim Pfander will conduct the service.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Good Shepherd Catholic Church.
