We are saddened to announce the death of Gail Margaret Starr of Pinckney, MI, formally of Chelsea, MI of the Hoffman Family. Gail was 72 years young and died too soon on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Chelsea following a long battle of illness. She was born August 26, 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she was one of eleven daughters and one brother of Maurice & Lucille Emma (Barnhardt) Hoffman.  In 1952, an article in the Citizens Patriot titled “GIRLS GALORE” was posted about a family in Chelsea MI with eleven girls and a single son.  The article stated there was "a man in Chelsea, MI with enough daughters for a baseball team”.  Gail’s father, Maurice Hoffman, promptly phoned the newspaper and said “That’s nothing, we’ve got enough girls for a football team, with a son left over to coach”.  Gail and all of her siblings attended St. Mary’s grammar school and Chelsea High school.  Gail married in the late 60’s and was a homemaker and loving mother and wife on a horse farm in Gregory, MI. She and her sister Debbie started Clean Sweep, a house cleaning business in the 80’s which she continued to work for almost 40 years until her death.

 Gail remarried and loved to line dance with her late husband Art.  She had a passion for planting her flower garden every spring.  She enjoyed visiting with her friends on early evenings in the summer to watch the boaters on Portage lake, and of course, chit chat.  But most of all, she loved her family and friends wholeheartedly and without pause. She was someone that you could always count on.  But she could NEVER cook potatoes all the way through.

Survivors include her two children, daughter, Lorrie Ann Patrick of Michigan Center; son, Chad Paxton of Pinckney, MI; two remaining sisters, Mary Glazier of Kalamazoo, Barbara Glazier of Kansas; her only brother, Fred Hoffman of Chelsea, MI; five grandchildren, Amber Main, Andrew Ewing, Brandon Fox and Mikayla Olson of Michigan Center and Jessica Sweeny of Pinckney, MI; three great grandchildren, Brycen Fox, Briella Fox and Kaydence Fox; four stepchildren, Debbie Starr-Garrett, Mike Starr, Tammy Starr-Boggs, Cindy Starr-Belville; along with hundreds of cousins, nieces and nephews including Alisha Dorow of New York and Tamara Kearney Schieberl of Texas.

She was preceded in death by both her parents, Maurice & Lucille Emma Hoffman of Chelsea, MI; eight sisters, Phylis Dalton, Maurine Kohler, Joanne Hoffman, Yvonne Minick, Rose Ann Osinski, Carol Sutfin, Sally Higgins and Deborah Kearney; her first husband and father of her children, Gary George Paxton, who also passed away just four months prior on December 23rd, 2019, in Jackson, MI; and her second husband, Arthur Starr, who passed away on March 12th, 2013. 

Due to the COVID-19 virus issues within our communities and across our country, a memorial service will be held at a future date when family and friend can travel and gather together to remember this remarkable woman.  Please check  www.ColeFuneralChapel.com,  along with Facebook for updates.  Her family will post updates on Gail’s Facebook home page that can be found by searching "Starr Gail”.  Arrangements were entrusted to Cole Funeral Chapel in Chelsea.

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