Otto and Margret Hofmann

Galindo is a neighborhood of interesting people who do fascinating things. Otto and Margret Hofmann were Galindo originals who exemplified this vibe: Otto was Texas’s leading craftsman of artisanal church organs and Margret was the Austin Councilwoman who established legal protection of Austin’s trees. The personal stories behind their work reveal their colorful, humorous and steadfast personalities.

Otto and Margret made their home on a two-acre lot atop a hill at 610 Cardinal Lane, not far from the hum of South First Street’s traffic. All that remains are oak trees surrounding a lonesome staircase that led to the entrance of the now demolished home where they raised five children. They were an eclectic couple (even by Austin’s standards), who were intellectually serious and held high standards for themselves. Both were of German descent; Otto was born on a farm in Kyle, Texas to German immigrants, and Margret emigrated in 1946 from war-torn Germany where she tragically lost her mother in a concentration camp. Their life’s work reflected their core values of strengthening the community, advancing world peace, and improving human rights. Otto cherished music’s role in the community and dedicated himself to a career of designing and building artisanal, Old-European style, church organs. He believed their aesthetic sound quality increased the spirituality of church service and strengthened emotional bonds with the congregation. Margret had multiple careers; homemaker, world peace writer/advocate, and an Austin Councilwoman. Her experience as a girl in Nazi Germany gave her wisdom that guided her advocacy. Her frequent public utterance, stated in the 2013 Friends Journal and many other publications, was “If you don’t speak up when you have a concern, soon you may no longer be able to make your voice heard.”

As young parents Otto and Margret were overjoyed when they bought their Galindo house in 1954. Margret loved its large, treed yard, and Otto built a workshop behind the house to produce his new Hofmann Pipe Organs. With the growing business and a young family, they followed a strict budget. Their oldest daughter, Barbara, laughs in hindsight during a July 13, 2025, interview, “Daddy wasn’t sure when he would get paid due to commissioning, so mom always stretched the dollar by making stews, soups, and casseroles.” Margret left a Post-it note on one of Otto’s first organ contracts from 1941 (preserved in the Austin Historical Center) stating, “He started very early with not charging enough for his work…” Their third daughter, Heidi, explained Otto’s business approach during a chat on August 5, 2025, “Dad always said you can’t profit off a church.” It turns out that Otto was motivated by something larger than profit; it was to win an ideological war against the new hollow sounding electronic organs that he despised. He was protecting society against the cheapening of the community’s religious experience.

Otto’s business consumed most of his time, which included hosting colleagues from overseas. Barbara chuckled as she said, “We always had a full house,” but it all worked thanks to the kids who constantly played outside. Otto’s work also pulled him away from home quite often. He spent a great amount of time on-site in churches and sometimes slept on the floor beside the organ. During construction, full attention was given to ensure the organ was perfectly integrated with the church’s interior — physically, architecturally, and acoustically. His measure of success was determined by the tonal quality when European sacred music was played. Nearly every church in Austin has had a Hofmann Organ. But his favorite was the one at Trinity University Church in San Antonio which took two-and-a-half years to complete. He had high customer satisfaction as evidenced by multiple thank-you-notes from church leaders. St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin wrote of their Hofmann Organ on their website, “Its tonal style is eclectic, a fit instrument for the task of preserving the full range of sacred music.” Otto kept strong relationships with churches to ensure their organ’s quality was maintained. To wit, one can almost hear Otto sobbing in a letter, preserved in the Austin Historical Center, which was sent to an Austin church imploring them to not install seat cushions as they will “deaden” the acoustics of their sacred music and destroy “the mystery of the worship” and that “soon people will stop coming!” Such was his passion for artistic quality. His reputation resulted in many organ requests across North and South America. Yet he declined most business outside Texas and its surrounding states due to the small size of his company. Still, his global notoriety grew, and in 1980, at age sixty-two, he was not only elected President of the International Organ Builders Association in Amsterdam but was also the first American to serve in that role. In 1994, after a 50+ year career with over 100 organs installed, Otto decided to retire from organs. A few years later he played a role in the movie Waking Life which was a surreal story about the meaning of life. Otto’s sense of humor prevailed in age. He asked a friend to build him a simple pine coffin. He stored it for years in his house under piles of books and blankets. During one of Barbara’s visits, she asked, “Daddy, what is this?” Otto smiled and said, “It’s my coffin… but it’s too short, so I’ll have to pull my legs up a little bit!” The room erupted in laughter. He always brought a smile to others.

Like Otto, Margret kept herself busy. As a young mother, she wrote books; A Key to Survival (1962), Vietnam Viewpoints (1968), and opinion pieces for news publications such as Saturday Review, Texas Observer, and the Austin American-Statesman. Most of her writing outlined the avoidable causes of wars and their destruction to humanity. Heidi explained that Margret’s persistent advocacy for peace was fueled by survivors’ guilt from WW II.[1] As the kids got older, Margret served in many Austin-based leadership positions but most enduringly as chairwoman for the Austin-Area UNICEF for 25 years. Her start in Austin politics was ignited when her children couldn’t safely walk to Dawson School. Barbara explained “When we walked to Dawson, there were no sidewalks along South First Street, and we’d have to walk in the street while avoiding morning rush hour traffic.” Fed up with this, Margret petitioned City Hall for sidewalks — only to be laughed at and called “Sidewalk Lady” as told by the Texas State Historical Association (February 2018). This inspired her to run for City Council in 1975, and win, as the first foreign-born naturalized citizen to do so. While serving, she advocated for the preservation of urban trees in Austin and was called “Tree Lady.” This she joyfully embraced as witnessed in a 2019 City of Austin blog quoting her; “Trees are our oldest citizens, who provide society with shade, oxygen, and beauty.” Her efforts led to Austin’s 1983 Tree and Natural Area Protection Code and the dedication of a memorial park to her in 2010 called the “Margret Hofmann Oaks,” the island of trees across from City Hall at the intersection of Caesar Chavez and First Street. After serving as Councilwoman Margret continued her focus on peace advocacy. In 2006 the Church Women United (a national women’s advocacy for peace) presented Margret the “Human Rights Award” for her lifetime achievements. She also started a small and personalized service to help people organize their estates. Heidi explained that Margret was bothered by how “many people were stuck in their houses” and felt that “your house should serve you rather than you serve your house.” Margret took on one client at a time and developed life solutions such as filing systems, de-cluttering, and estate planning. Heidi said what now seems obvious “She was a master at organizing.”

Otto and Margret, two of Galindo’s finest, passed away on May 12, 2001 and February 2, 2012 respectively. Plans for the vacant lot at 610 Cardinal Lane are unknown. I will reach out to its current legal owners to request that a memorial honoring Otto and Margret be erected where, hopefully, those stairs can be preserved. Special thanks to Barbara Yerby (first Hofmann daugher), Heidi Veselka (third Hofmann daugher), and to the Austin Historical Society for giving timely access to the “Margret Hofmann Papers.”

[1] See Brad Bucholz’s article from “Legacy of War”, Austin Statesman, Feb 1, 2012, for a masterful narration on Margret’s views on war.