Brady Noah Hoffman

By all accounts, Mary G. Montgomery High School senior Brady Hoffman, 17, was a giver and a doer; a good friend who never met a stranger; and a devout Christian who left a legacy of faith in action.

 

Starting at age 14, Hoffman took three summer mission trips to Tanzania, Africa, with Medreach Inc., a nonprofit that assists churches to organize short-term medical mission teams to help people in east Africa.On those trips, he took on several jobs, including being the camp cook, said Dr. Susan Ashbee, who traveled with him. “He was a good cook,” she said. “He did any job we asked him to do.“He was just a model kid, full of life and happy and very spiritual, and he wasn’t afraid to share his faith with people, which is so amazing for a young person.”

 

Hoffman died on Feb. 15 on U.S. 98 at Big Creek Lake Bridge, in a head-on collision that claimed the lives of two other people: Robert Harvey Albritton Jr., 69, of Wilmer, and Mary G. Montgomery High School student Brandon Albritton, 15. A second passenger in Albritton's vehicle, Brianna Albritton, 16, of Wilmer, was severely injured in the crash.

 

This summer, Hoffman had planned to go on a six-week visit to Tanzania with Medreach. “He was so excited,” said longtime family friend Toni Moore.In the fall, he planned to enroll at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he had earned a scholarship.Medreach missionary S.L. Hudson has started an online fundraiser to honor Hoffman’s memory by raising donations to purchase Swahili Bibles in his name.

 

“Brady had a great love for the African people and we believe that by purchasing and distributing Bibles in his memory, we are growing the fruit from the seeds he helped plant,” she wrote on the nonprofit’s Facebook page. Every $10 donation “will get a Swahili Bible into the hands of a Tanzanian villager,” she wrote.

 

On the mission trips, Hoffman especially loved teaching Bible lessons to the children. “That was really why he went; he loved that part of it, being with the kids,” Moore said. Hoffman would be pleased with the Bible drive, she said. “He had a passion for reaching the outermost parts of the earth; he loved Africa and he loved the African people.”At MGM, Hoffman played on the tennis team and sang in the chorus. “He loved to sing,” Moore said. “He always sang, just walking through the house.”He was in his fourth year with the tennis team, and recently won his first match of the season. Some of his teammates will be pallbearers at his funeral.Hoffman was an avid volunteer, putting in time at Camp Smile, Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for Humanity, Light of the Village, Alabama Baptist Children's Home and Wilmer Kidz Camp. He sang and volunteered at First Baptist Church of Wilmer, First Baptist Church of Theodore and Harvest Church. All three of the pastors – Terry Glasscock of Wilmer, David Gill of Theodore and Kevin Cooley of Harvest Church – will participate in his funeral.

 

“We joked this week that one church couldn’t contain Brady,” Moore said. “He sang and played in the band in all of these different churches. He’d go wherever they wanted him. He was reaching so many other people.“Since this accident, we’re realizing how many lives he has touched.”Hoffman’s faith was always paramount, Moore said. “That’s what his mission was. … He was about God’s work.” If any kids needed a ride to church, Hoffman would take them, she said.Hoffman’s parents, Todd and Cherise, came to Mary G. Montgomery High School on Monday morning to meet with students at the flagpole for a gathering in memory of Hoffman and Brandon Albritton.

 

The Hoffmans' strong faith has helped them cope with the loss of their only child, Moore said. “That’s God holding us," she said. "We don’t know how people get through something like this who don’t have God to lean on and trust in, and the hope that we’re going to see Brady again one day. … That’s what gets them through.”

• Born June 18th, 1996 to Todd & Cherise Hoffman

• Went to be with Jesus on Saturday February 15th, 2014

​