Val Hafner passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at The Fountains at Millbrook, a place he and his late wife An called home for over thirty years. He was 99 years old.

A person’s life can often be understood through the stories they tell. Fifteen years ago, Val joined The Writer’s Exchange at The Fountains and found his gift for writing. His humorous stories of growing up in Brooklyn, his memoirs of family life in Ozone Park and teaching high school in the South Bronx and his witty reflections on life became an integral part of the group’s gatherings.

His stories revealed a man whose creativity, curiosity and resourcefulness helped him forge his path in life. When Val was 5 years old his father passed away and his maternal grandfather came to live with the family. His grandfather’s ingenuity in fixing things and his hobby of building model churches out of discarded materials inspired Val to work on his own projects.

At age 13, Val travelled by trolley to attend Brooklyn Technical High School. Upon graduation, he was not inclined to enter another classroom and began work in a factory. Two years later, he changed course and began taking classes at City College three weeks before he married An.

The following years were busy ones for Val and his growing family. He and An had three daughters, Claudia, Cristine and Lorraine within five years and were married for 75 years. He worked in the space industry and continued taking courses at night. After 11 years, he finally earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then transferred to Queens College, took courses in psychology and eventually because of that interest began his teaching career at Alfred E. Smith High School in the South Bronx, continuing on at Thomas A. Edison High School in Jamaica, NY. Val was a gentle, playful father who once orchestrated an elaborate game of hide and seek that baffled his daughters.Throughout his life, from Brooklyn to Ozone Park to The Fountains at Millbrook, Val continued to develop his creative projects. In Ozone Park, he bought equipment for woodworking which he used to make household furniture as well as elegant wooden sculptures. He later created elaborate metal sculptures that moved in the wind and sold these at his sister’s gallery in Lenox, MA. When wood and metal proved too cumbersome to work with, he fashioned mobiles and figures out of paper.Val Hafner was a man you do not meet every day. He will be missed by all who knew him.Val is survived by his daughters Claudia Hafner and Cristine Hafner, his granddaughter Madeline Musick and his sister Mildred Hado.