In Loving Memory: Hochdorf Creates Opa Project

In June 2020, Shoshana Hochdorf’s beloved father passed away, and three days later she found out she was pregnant with her first child. Filled with grief and an understandable mix of bittersweet sadness, she and husband, Adam’s, blessed news arrived at a most painful time. It is often said, when one door closes, another opens.

Knowing that her beloved father would never know her children, her firstborn, and they would never know him, Shoshana’s personal story inspired an idea that was heartfelt. Her mission would help bridge her own grief to a purposeful project and help others do the same.

As days followed, Shoshana said to her husband, Adam, “I’d love to somehow make a children’s book about my dad. A way for our baby to know him. She decided then, that once their baby was born, she’d figure it out.”

Nine months later, with the pandemic in force and after a 5½-week NICU stay, baby boy, Rafa, was brought home. That night, Adam gave Shoshana a push present that took her by total surprise. She said, “I opened the box to find a book called, ‘Opa.’ The German word means grandfather, which is what my dad went by. Adam, with the help of my incredibly talented sister-in-law, made the children’s book all about my father and I was overwhelmed.”

Shoshana shared, “I cherished knowing the book was there, but it took me a solid year to be able to read it to Rafa. I cried the whole way through. Not long after, a friend (and newly inducted member of the club) asked me where Adam had made it. That was when I realized I wanted to help others dealing with loss make books about the people they love. So, this year on Father’s Day, and on Instagram in the sea of happy family pictures, I shared it in honor of and in celebration of my dad.”

Shoshana added, “We now have two children, Rafa and Ruby. Now living in Brooklyn, The Opa Project is still a work in progress. I quietly launched it on a day that can be hard for a lot of people to hopefully spread some light and maybe offer a way to connect the children you love to the people you’ve lost.”

The Opa Project makes personalized children’s books to connect the children you love to the people you’ve lost. Each book is a way to introduce a child to a grandparent, parent, or loved one they never got the chance to meet. By creating something truly specific to your family, Shoshana’s books share not just a name, but the whole person: the team they rooted for, the sayings they were known for, the recipes they made famous. The books turn bedtime into a moment of connection, telling a loved one’s story in a way a young child can hold onto.

Each book includes custom illustrations and is printed as a hardcover keepsake, made to be read again. Even if your child may never have met them, they can still know them. Her friend and early collaborator, Casey, named the project, The Opa Project, and her husband’s gift became the origin of Shoshana’s mission to create meaning from loss and a book of love, legacy, and a lifetime of memories.

Regarding some of the books she has made, Shoshana shared, “My friend, Casey, and I met 12 years ago working at Zocdoc, where I still work full-time. She and I became close friends and stayed friends. Her dad passed away, not too long after my dad. She was the original person who asked about how we had mine made. She and I were pregnant at the same time, me with my second and her with her first, and so I worked with her siblings to create her book. And another one was called ‘Bea’s Joy.’ This one I made for a colleague whose mom passed away, and he found out he and his wife were pregnant not long after. He was incredibly supportive of the larger project and immediately wanted one about his mom.”

Shoshana added, “When my dad passed away, in that moment, I was dedicated to my children genuinely knowing my dad. When friends saw my husband’s gift, they asked where we had it made, and what started as one family’s way of holding onto someone we loved became something I wanted to offer to others. We’re in our early days, taking on a small number of stories at a time to make sure we can deliver something you’ll truly love. Ruby is a baby, but I’m certain she knows who Opa is and that is everything to me.”

For more information, please visit https://www.theopaproject.com/