By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH COUNTY, Ind. – Nancy Hoffman has been a constant at ARC of Wabash County for the last 41 years.
That changed on Friday, June 30, when she retired from the organization as its executive director.
“I’ve been here 41 years,” she told The Paper of Wabash County during a recent interview. “I started in February 1976.
“I graduated from college at Manchester, now University, in January 1976. I was out of a college less than a month when the college placement office called me and said they were looking for a teacher at Workshop Enterprises to work with adults with developmental disabilities.”
An elementary education graduate, Hoffman admittedly had no background in special education. She figured she had several months to begin the job search in earnest.
“I came primarily because I needed the experience of going through interviews,” she said. “I thought I have until September to find a teaching job somewhere, so I thought I would go through the interview as a practice.”
She met with former Executive Director John Hennelly for four hours.
“We were in a Quonset hut over on Canal Street at the time and he took me on a tour,” Hoffman recalled. “All the people in the program – we had about 25 clients then – were on lunch, so he kind of walked me into the middle of the lunch room and told me he had to make a phone call.
“He walked to the other side of the room and kind of watched me interact.”
She obviously did well, for Hennelly called her early the next morning and asked her to return to the facility in an hour.
“He offered me the job the second day,” she said. “I called my adviser at the college. I called my mom. I called a friend. What am I going to do? I wasn’t sure I could handle this.”
But her concern was for naught.
“Within a couple of weeks I had fallen in love with these people,” she said.
Though the number of clients have grown, as have the number of programs offered, that love remains among the clients and Hoffman.
“We sent letters to the families and staff explaining I was leaving,” she said. “The next they were all saying, ‘Nancy, you’re retiring? What are you going to do?’”
Many, she said, were relieved when they learned that while she is retiring, she is staying on board for a year, serving as a consultant to help the new Executive Director Linda Johnson transition into the post.
“I will do most of the work from home, so I’m not in the new director’s hair,” she joked.
While busy working on her transition from executive director to consultant, Hoffman had little time to think about her retirement.
“It wasn’t until about three weeks ago that it hit me,” she said. “I was telling someone a story, and I got all teary. I’ve been here two-thirds of my life. I grew up here. It just boggles my mind.”
Hoffman is quick to note that her time at ARC has been just as, if not more, beneficial for her than for the clients with whom she worked.
“I think the people in our program, the people I have been with all these years, have done more for me than I could have ever hoped to do for them.
“Just the fact that I’m a constant in their lives makes them happy. I think (taking the job) was a God thing, I really do. Otherwise I would never have come for an interview.”
Hoffman was honored on June 29 during a reception at ARC.
During the event, Mayor Scott Long’s executive assistant Bev Vanderpool read a proclamation making the day “Nancy Hoffman Day” in the City of Wabash.
Hoffman also was presented with a “Circle of Corydon” award sent from the office of Gov. Eric Holcomb.
“I’m blown away,” Hoffman said after receiving the honors.
And, as for second thoughts about retiring … “I’m having lots of second thoughts, thank you. But it’s been a good ride.”