Life without Emily

Ruby returned home from school in view of a portrait of Emily Hofher on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020.

David Joles

Ruby Raub, 3, walked in the aisle during the funeral service for her mother, Emily Hofher, at the Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church in Minneapolis as Ruby's father and Emily's husband Rob Raub, top right, sat nearby.

David Joles

As the cellist arrives for the burial service for Emily Hofher, 45, of Minneapolis, her husband Rob Raub and their daughter Ruby, 3, walked next to the grave site at Oak Hill Cemetery in Minneapolis.

David Joles

During the burial service for Emily Hofher, 45, of Minneapolis, mourners tossed dirt onto the woven sea grass coffin on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, at Oak Hill Cemetery in Minneapolis. Hofher ordered the coffin online before her death largely as part of her desire to have the least impact on the environment and to keep costs down for her surviving family.

David Joles

Ruby tossed dirt into the grave of her mother as Emily's mother, Karin Eide, right, and friend Tabitha Edwards looked on during the burial service at Oak Hill Cemetery in Minneapolis.

David Joles

Rob Raub, held Ruby the day he officially adopted her on May 16 2018, in Minneapolis. Emily Hofher, right, had recently been discharged from a hospital stay during her cancer fight-- one of five such stays in April and May of 2018.

Family Photo

Emily Hofher marveled at her newly adopted daughter Ruby, whom she had brought home from Texas, and was seen sleeping next to her beloved cat Shisko and photographed by Hofher's boyfriend Rob Raub, who later became her husband, and seen Dec. 16, 2015, in Minneapolis

David Joles

Emily Hofher was photographed after selecting her burial plot. "She wanted a place where people could come and sit and talk to her," said long-time friend Jessica Bender. "She said if we wanted to have a picnic, and bring martinis and sit on her grave and have a martini picnic with Emily, we could do that."

Family photo

Rob Raub and his daughter, Ruby, 4, had a quiet moment together during a visit to Emily Hofher's grave on July 12, 2020 in Minneapolis.

David Joles

During a visit to her mother's grave site, Ruby paused with a clover flower she had picked near Emily Hofher's grave.

David Joles

Ruby played a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos with her father, Rob Raub on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020, in their kitchen.

David Joles

Ruby covers her father, Rob Raub, with a blanket as Ruby played parent, putting several of her dolls to sleep along with her dad on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020.

David Joles

Before her death in October of 2019, Emily Hofher had prepared packages of various keepsakes along with notes for her daughter, Ruby, to receive when she was old enough. Here, a pair of old eyeglasses were among the items her dad Rob Raub brought out for Ruby to peek at for the first time since her mother's death.

David Joles

Before her death in October of 2019, Emily Hofher recorded thoughts in a journal for family and friends and her daughter Ruby Raub, 4, to read when she was old enough.

David Joles

Karen Eide, Emily Hofher's mother, holds Shisko, a cat Emily had taken in as a stray about 20 years earlier, while she lived in Istanbul, Turkey, and had taught there, along with a photo of Emily with her beloved cat. Shisko's health had been failing and the cat's breathing labored and so Eide had made the difficult decision to have the cat euthanized later that morning on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020.

David Joles

Ruby touches the ground where Shisko, a cat her mother Emily had taken in as a stray, was buried.

David Joles

Ruby shed a tear after the family buried Shisko, a beloved cat her mother Emily had taken in as a stray about 20 years earlier while she lived in Istanbul, Turkey.

David Joles

Before her death in October of 2019, Emily Hofher had prepared packages of various keepsakes along with notes for her daughter Ruby Raub, 4, to receive when she was old enough. Here, various jewelry and a cat purse from time spent teaching in Istanbul, Turkey, were among the items her dad Rob Raub brought out for Ruby to peek at for the first time since her mother's death.

David Joles

During their almost daily visit to a nearby park, Rob Raub pushed his daughter Ruby, on a swing set Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, in Minneapolis.

David Joles

Emily Hofher got help from relatives as she waded into the Gulf of Mexico with Ruby floating by her side during her last family vacation on Sept. 27, 2019 in St. Petersburg, Florida, before her death in October.

Family Photo

Emily Hofher and husband Rob Raub were photographed at the wedding reception of a friend where Emily's cancer had advanced to the point that she barely had the energy for one slow dance with her husband. "I was so happy she made it out but so sad too because the decline was so evident... We felt normal even for a little bit," Raub wrote.

Family Photo

Emily Hofher was a middle school librarian and loved to encourage reading. "She loved her job," wrote husband Rob. "Loved the identity. Embraced the neediness of being a librarian," in a photo taken May 26, 2015, in Minneapolis.

Family Photo