Ellen Hoffman
| Ellen Hoffman | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Sex | F | ||||||
| Spouse | Duane Hoffman | ||||||
Children
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Ellen Hoffman is a rancher's wife living on the Bar H Bar near Ely, Nevada. She is married to Duane, son of Shirley Hoffman. She and Duane have two children, Sara and Will. When we first encounter Ellen it's when Shirley is the floor manager of Bettye's Ranch, a legal bordello elsewhere in Nevada.
Ellen was originally from around Austin, Nevada, and had worked as a prostitute around Elko, Nevada, in the late 1960s "for a few shifts, back half a lifetime ago" with the handle "Maggie" before meeting Duane and settling down to work his late father's cattle ranch.MC05
Ellen and her family were hosting the Thanksgiving dinner in 1990 when her boy Will was biten by a snake while out on horseback. Jennlynn Swift saved his life by flying him in Magic Carpet to the hospital in Ely.
She was described as "a fortyish woman on horseback, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt" and a rough-cut jewel, tough and competent.MC05 Jennlynn was also of the opinion that she "always liked this hard, competent ranch woman who was used to taking things as they came and making the best of them. It was a hell of a life, one Jennlynn could not have considered for herself, but she'd seen it produce three generations of awesomely friendly, competent and down-home people. They didn't have a lot of money and were pretty close to the edge, but by God they were independent and proud of it!"MC10
After Jennlynn had taken Will to visit Shirley and Sara at the Redlite Ranch, they returned to the Bar H Bar and while not saying anything explicit, "No one came out and said that she and Will had quite a weekend, but there was enough innuendo, talking around the subject, and knowing smiles to make the message quite clear -- as was the message from Ellen and Duane that it was appreciated."MC12
With Jennlynn visiting in a new airplane, Ellen was preparing to drive steel fence posts into the ground to make temporary tiedowns, although Will had returned in time to do it himself. Ellen is certainly the type to do it herself if needed.MC16
When Jennlynn took Norma Franceour with Robin to her cabin on the Bar H Bar ranch, Ellen agreed to help, she rode a horse from the ranch house because the track was out. The horse gave Robin an interest while she recovered from the drugs and beating Lonnie, a pimp, had given her.HOG17 When Robin was well enough, Ellen took her in to the ranch, teaching her to care for horses as well as other ranch work.HOG18 Robin described Ellen and Duane as better parents to me than my real parents ever were.HOG22
