Corriene Ann Thompson Liotta, longtime Colfax matriarch, passed away January 18, 2018 in Tualatin, Oregon where she had been recently to be closer to her daughters. She was 95. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Colfax on July 3rd.
Corriene was born November 24, 1922, in Colfax WA to Lue and Anna (Harter) Hofer the youngest of 3 children (Irene (Morton) and Charles) and was raised on the family farm. Her young life included chores, schooling in a one-room schoolhouse, boarding school in Colfax and attending CHS. She attended WSU for two years then returned home at age 19 to help out on the farm after her mother died.
She met John Robert Thompson in 1945 and corresponded for two years. They married in 1947, and had 6 children; Beth (Steve) Condon, Cathy (Ron) Karten, Joseph Thompson, Irene (Paul) Coppa, John (Chris) Thompson, Jean (Jim) Powers.
Corriene was an extremely gifted homemaker; sewing, cooking and gardening. While in Ohio she started a Foster Parent club with several neighborhood women and was always active in the Catholic Church.
Their homes included Colfax WA, Bozeman Montana, Follansbee West Virginia, and Steubenville Ohio. A few years after John Robert died (1967) she moved with her three youngest children back to Colfax to live on the original Hofer Family homestead. In the following years her other children and their families eventually moved out to the Pacific Northwest.
In 1981 Corriene married Al Liotta, a widower with 12 children;
Patty (Phil) Shadden, Karen (Ron) Orlando, Mike (Char) Byrd, Theresa (Skip) Hollis, Mark (Lyla) Byrd (d. 2014), Annette (Bernie) Fischer, Guy (Shawna) Byrd, Yvonne Adams, Joanne (Terry) Eng, Maria Liotta-Shindler, Anna Liotta, Charles Liotta.

They lived in a large farm house where Al had moved with his family from Pullman, WA.
In Colfax Corriene was involved with the Church Altar society, coordinated funeral dinners, volunteered at the hospital gift shop. She also learned to play golf (Al was a PGA-Professional at the WSU golf course) and was an avid reader and card player. She frequently hosted large dinners for holidays and many other family events. After the children left home Al and Corriene moved into a retirement home (Hill-Ray Plaza) in Colfax in 2002. Al passed away October 2012 and in January 2016 she moved to an assisted care facility near Portland Oregon and was visited and cared for daily by her daughters. Corriene is survived by her six children, 11 step-children, 50+ grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and many cherished nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Memorial donations can be made to St. Patrick Parish in Colfax and/or the Whitman Community Hospital Foundation.