Hofschneider was a teacher at a Tinian public school who married Ana Maria San Nicolas Borja in the early 1980s.
He created his own band and performed during fiestas, weddings and in night clubs. He also trained talented musicians on Saipan during the summer.
Hofschneider is the second of 13 children of the late Richard V. and Andresina U. Hofschneider. At an early age, Henry Hofschneider, who was also known as Henry Boy, became a self-taught musician playing rhythm, bass and lead guitars, keyboard, harmonica and accordion.
He attended John F. Kennedy High School on Guam where he became a member of a band. He and the late Edward San Nicolas Borja, his wife’s brother, composed songs and formed the group “Kunados Tinian” which led to the successful recording of “I Aniju” in 1984 and 1985.
Henry Boy became ill in the late 1990s and eventually succumbed to congestive heart failure on Aug. 20, 2000. He was 47.
During the festival’s opening ceremony on Saturday, Maggi Naputi performed a song in memory of Saipan’s famed ukulele player Richard Naputi who has also passed away.
Richard Naputi was the only boy among four children who grew up in As Lito. The family moved from Tinian to Saipan when Naputi was five years old. As a child, Naputi would always watch his uncle play the guitar.
He was 12 when his uncle Mike gave him a 12-string guitar.
Naputi’s grandmother Chonki taught him to play the ukulele until he became very good at it.
He then started to teach his cousins and played for his family during gatherings. Naputi learned to play the keyboard in 2003 and later joined his aunt Maggi in her performances.
The 22-year-old Naputi was among those killed in a shooting rampage at a firing range on Saipan in November last year.
