Bethel pulled out all the stops on Aug. 2 to honor Sen. Lyman Hoffman for his nearly four decades in the Alaska Legislature.
Tribal, community, and business leaders, city and state officials, extended family members, and old friends packed into the National Guard Readiness Center to share the ways they say Alaska’s longest-serving state legislator made a positive impact.
As Hoffman’s tenure comes to a close, the cost of living remains high across rural Alaska. But many who spoke said that the situation would be worse if not for energy assistance programs the senator spearheaded.
"Because of his leadership, countless households throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta have been able to keep their lights on, heat their homes, and reduce the burden of some of the highest energy costs in the nation," Calista Corporation Board Member Johnnie Evan said.
Hoffman’s longtime colleague in the legislature, Rep. Bryce Edgmon, talked about Hoffman’s uncanny ability to get things done, like growing state weatherization and power cost equalization programs. Edgmon said that Hoffman is a man of few words, but to great effect.
"Lyman is not the biggest talker, but it's phenomenal how in the end he's got more heads nodding in agreement with what he's saying. Even though he didn't say anything, they're still agreeing with him," Edgmon said to laughter.
Edgmon, who has represented Bristol Bay in the state House for decades, has been encouraged by Hoffman in his current run to replace him in the sprawling Senate district that covers the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta.
Bethel Native Corporation President and CEO Ana Hoffman, related by marriage, emceed the event and paid tribute to the senator, also a longtime chairman of the corporation’s board.
"He knows Alaska's political system and structure. Over the last 40 years, he's not only shaped it. He has dominated it," Hoffman said.
Ana shared a story about how the senator’s connections could be called upon in a pinch. Just days ahead of First Lady Jill Biden’s visit to Bethel in May 2023, Ana said that she learned that scheduled maintenance at the airport would mean the runway would not be long enough for the United States Air Force jet to land on. She said that calls to the governor’s office and state officials went nowhere.
"Then I called Sen. Hoffman. The problem got resolved," Ana said.
GCI President Greg Chapados praised Hoffman’s efforts – both as a legislator and with Bethel Native Corporation – in helping his company bring improved broadband services and fiber internet to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Bethel City Manager Lori Strickler said that Hoffman is retiring with another title under his belt.
"He's setting records not just for state government but local government as well, because I think he is still the longest-standing city manager for our community," Strickler said.
In his own remarks, Hoffman focused on his time as city manager in Bethel in the late 1970s. He credited his political tenacity to his late uncle, Chief Eddie Hoffman.
"He traveled with me to Juneau on many occasions to advocate for building the seawall, which no one thought was going to be ever built because it was so expensive," Hoffman said.
On one of these visits, Hoffman said that the pair were told by a staffer that Gov. Jay Hammond was too busy to meet with them. Lyman said that his uncle held his ground: he wasn’t going anywhere until he got his five minutes with the governor.
"That five minutes lasted two hours, and we explained what the situation was about Bethel and everything else. And at the end of the meeting, the governor told his secretary, any time that Chief Eddie Hoffman comes to Juneau, I will clear my agenda and meet with him," Hoffman said.
Lyman reserved his biggest thanks for his wife, Lillian, and his immediate family members for allowing him to spend so much time over the years far away in the state Capitol building. While Hoffman was away, Bethel kept growing, leaving behind the “one road town” he said he knew as a child.
"To see Bethel grow from 500 to close to 7,000 people is utterly amazing," Hoffman said.
Among numerous gifts and placards given to Hoffman and Lillian, philanthropic donations poured in at the Aug. 2 event – $150,000 to jumpstart the newly formed Lyman and Lillian Hoffman Foundation, and $100,000 from GCI to support education programs at Bethel Native Corporation.
