Alma Buchanan Hoisington, 95, of Huntsville, Alabama, passed away on 17 January 2026 in the Briar Glen Care Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. on 30 January at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 13550 Cheney Thompson Road SE, Huntsville, Alabama, 35803. The service will be live streamed on the church’s web site. Father Tim Pfander will preside. Interment of the ashes in the Good Shepherd Catholic Church columbarium will follow.
Alma was born on 14 January 1931 in Newburgh, New York. Her parents were Robert and Bessie Buchanan. Alma attended school in Newburgh and then worked in the office of Diamond Candle in New Windsor, New York. She married Lou Lento and had a daughter, Debra. Alma became a stay-at-home mom and was active in the New Windsor PTA.
Later Alma got a part time job in the Football Office and then worked full time in the Department of Athletics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Here she met Lieutenant Colonel Robert Henry Hoisington. Alma and Bob married in 1974 and moved to Huntsville, Alabama. Here Bob was Team Chief of a Research Group at Redstone Arsenal before retiring from the U.S. Army in 1978.
Alma and Bob were long-term residents of Huntsville, for many years living on Doubletree Drive and then at the Brookdale Jones Farm retirement community. They raised four of their nine shared children in Huntsville and were active in the Roman Catholic Church. Alma loved gardening and the luxuriant flora in her yard attracted swarms of butterflies. She and Bob were avid hikers and especially enjoyed our national parks. Alma was an enthusiastic bowler as well.
Her academic interests included a passion for Abraham Lincoln, and she collected a library of books about him. Family lore included her encyclopedic knowledge of this subject. She was a true patriot and loved West Point.
Alma is survived by her daughters, Debra Elgee (William), Mary Beth Brown (John), Margeret Ann Morris (Mike), Katherine Lauer (Carl), Nancy Marie Yankho, and Barbara Jean Holcomb (Bill); sons, Robert H. Hoisington Jr (Debra), Gregory J. Hoisington, and Douglas Hoisington (Cindy); siblings, Douglas Buchanan and Beverly Hughes (Teddy); 23 grandchildren; and 21 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her siblings. Helen Forrester, Goldie LeMunyan, Patricia Decker, and Robert Buchanan Jr; husband Robert H. Hoisington; and ex-husband, Lou Lento.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Good Shepherd Catholic Church.
