Title: Flagstaff’s Forgotten Cowgirl: The Journals of Lizzie Hoffman
Author: J.K. Hoffman
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1984541109
Pages: 288
Genre: Literature & Fiction/Westerns/Action & Adventure
Synopsis
Forgotten Cowgirl The Journals of Lizzie Hoffman Travel with Lizzie from a budding young girl to a strong independent woman within the intimate and innocent diary, she penned to capture the thrills discovering how each of her days blessed her with new experiences. A real person who lived in the Flagstaff area in the 1880s, Lizzie lived a life unlike any woman of her time wild, impetuous, and bitten by a rabid curiosity. Reading her journals, we witness her wanderlust take her across the Midwest and on to the Yukon where she pans for gold alongside a passel of rough n rowdy rogues. Ever undaunted, Lizzie navigates untrodden paths and unsavory persons. Her romances verge on the legendary, and as with all men and their mischiefs, lead to Lizzies last, tragic, encounter. Author J.K. Hoffman gives an authentic voice to Lizzie a direct relative in her first novel, imaging the adventures that fill the gaps in the historical record. Now buried in Flagstaff, Lizzie through the authors kinship embodies the Southwests distinctive heritage throughout her colorful tale.
About the Author
J K (Judy) Hoffman was born in Prescott, Arizona to Ray and Edabelle Crawford. Her parents lived in Mayer, Arizona where they owned and operated Rays Market. She enjoyed a fun-filled early life in many little towns in Arizona. She experienced Arizona in the fifties and sixties shaping her life with the knowledge of western life. From Mayer to Phoenix then on to Holbrook and back to Phoenix. Often living with her grandparents who loved to spin tales. At the age of nine, the family moved to Sedona where her parents lived for 33 years. Sedona brought an array of fun with the height of moviemaking at its highest. She observed as movies were being filmed which inspired her creative mind. A story was always created in her head as if she were writing her own scripts. At sixteen her family moved to Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona increasing her life experiences. A painfully shy girl gained confidence in herself by immersing herself in school activities. There she worked as a clerk in the Navajo Trails Trading Post. She learned to embrace life and accept each day as it was given to her. She then attended Northern Arizona University where she met her future husband, Garry. Life nudged her to become a dental assistant and make her home in Flagstaff in the early Seventies. Together they had three children which they raised in the beautiful mountain city. The majority of her career was having the pleasure of working with James Mast, DDS for twenty-eight years. Upon his retirement, she worked for Bryan Shannahan DDS for two years. After a diagnosis of stage three renal cancer, and two hand surgeries she decided it was time to write the book of her dreams. She had been researching her own genealogy for several years when, after the death of her mother, she began work on her husbands family. Excited to do local research she went to the Flagstaff Public Library where she discovered Lizzie Hoffman. This fascinating woman of the turn of the last century captivated her imagination. She could not let go of her and her life in early Flagstaff. So in the winter of 2016 she began to put her story into words. After finding a very creative writing coach named Jacques LaLiberte, who encouraged her to change the book into a journal. She lives in Flagstaff with her husband, son Justin, two cats and a dog named Bo. She is lucky to have her oldest son, Chris, living and working in Flagstaff. Her daughter Heather is a teacher in Winslow, Arizona where she lives with her husband Randy and Judys two handsome and talented grandsons, Riley and Aiden.
