Obituary of Dean Hopfe

Dean Howard Hopfe was born in Hardisty, Alberta on July 24, 1958 and passed away peacefully on January 22, 2024 at the age of 65 years at Hardisty Health Centre Long Term Care, with his devoted and loving wife at his side. 

As a young man Dean enjoyed fishing, snowmobiling, bird and deer hunting, with his older brothers. He loves nature, camping, traveling whether it is by air, boat or road trip. Dean was an excellent driver who always kept his family safe and motivated.

After high school he started his first job with the Town of Hardisty in the summer of 1977. In the fall he was hired by a team of surveyors who worked on the new lots where the hospital and new houses are today. On May 5, 1978, he was hired by C.P. Rail where he worked for 35 years until his retirement in 2013. 

In 1992 he traveled halfway around the globe to meet and marry the love of his life, Amalia ‘Amy’ Alonzo Dofitas in Dipolog City, Philippines. Together they raised two children Vanessa and Logan. In August 2016, his first grandchild was born named Henry. His daughter's little bundle of joy made him a very proud grandpa for the first time. He enjoyed traveling with his family wherever they could get away for the summer with his motorhome, his pride and joy he purchased following his retirement in 2013. Another highlight in his life was being able to bring his family he proudly raised here in Hardisty back to visit his beloved wife’s homeland in the Philippines in July of 2015. Dean and the family spent nearly a month visiting family, sightseeing and taking in as much of the different culture as he and his family could, and the resort they spent time in was one of Dean’s favourite adventures as it had been the first time for the children to be overseas. Next to the big leap of faith Dean took traveling across the world for the first time to meet what would be the love of his life.

After Dean’s retirement in 2013 at a young age, he was enjoying the retired life, doing various tasks and chores around the house that he loved to do, he was a very productive hardworking man always looking for a task to complete. But not too long after Dean was getting used to his new way of life, in 2019 Dean was finding some difficulties in keeping food down, and after visits with doctors and specialists the Hopfe family received heartbreaking news that Dean has cancer of the esophagus. Moving forward Dean had gone through countless visits to the clinics, appointments, and treatments from doctors at the Cancer Centre. He fought hard and brave like a warrior, as the strong man he was, he was a family man and he promised to fight for his family, and he did. After his surgery and a long 10 weeks of post-op complications Dean was finally able to come home with his family. He bounced back and got as well as you could imagine a cancer survivor to heal and then some. He continued on with his daily tasks as if nothing had gone wrong months ago. He lived healthy for another two and a half years until cancer struck on him once again in summer of 2022. After many more visits to the doctor they finally determined Dean’s cancer had come back in the form of brain cancer. For a second time, he had an operation done to remove the cancerous tumor. This time it was more difficult to fight, he tried his best, and fought long and hard, but in the end, he was too tired to keep on going, and passed away peacefully, on January 22nd, 2024 at 5:20 pm with his eternally loving wife by his side. Dean was always full of life and enjoyed life to the fullest and was a good-hearted man, with pure values and loved with all his heart. Dean will forever be in our thoughts, and forever in our hearts.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 at 2 pm in the Hardisty Community Hall with Susan MacKinnon as the officiant. Interment will take place at the Hardisty Cemetery. Memorial donations in memory of Dean may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society, Hardisty General Hospital Auxiliary Guild Society, or a charity of the Donor’s choice.