S*0803 Concurrent Resolution, By Matthews and Hutto
 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEND MR. GILBERT A. HOFFMAN, JR.,
 OF ORANGEBURG COUNTY, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE ORANGEBURG
 COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS AND REGISTRATION.

   05/30/07  Senate Introduced, adopted, sent to House SJ-4
   05/31/07  House  Introduced, adopted, returned with concurrence HJ-10

TO RECOGNIZE AND COMMEND MR. GILBERT A. HOFFMAN, JR., OF ORANGEBURG COUNTY, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE ORANGEBURG COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS AND REGISTRATION.

Whereas, Mr. Gilbert A. Hoffman, Jr., of Orangeburg County, has served as a member of the Orangeburg County Board of Elections and Registration with great distinction since 1990; and

Whereas, Mr. Hoffman's remarkable life began on September 6, 1921, when he was born at his family home on Belleview Road in Orangeburg, becoming the only son of the late Gilbert and Gertrude Hoffman; and

Whereas, Gilbert later became a cadet at The Citadel, and during his senior year a fortuitous appendicitis attack led to his emergency hospitalization at the old Tri-County Hospital in Orangeburg. While hospitalized, he met a beautiful nursing student from Windsor, South Carolina, named Eleanor Baggott. The couple courted through Gilbert's graduation from The Citadel in 1942, and planned to marry after he returned from service in World War II, but, on an impulse, tied the knot on August 17, 1942. The impromptu service took place at the only available church in the area, even though it was a church neither of them attended. Until Eleanor's death in January 2006, the Hoffmans enjoyed a loving, sixty-three year marriage that produced a daughter, Trudy Draughn, grandchildren, Jim Draughn and Eleanor Draughn, and great-grandchildren; and

Whereas, Mr. Hoffman graduated from The Citadel in the spring of 1942 with a future governor and United States Senator named Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, and served his country in World War II as part of the Fifty-First Division stationed in St. Nazaire, France. Although approximately half of his classmates from The Citadel died while fighting for their country, Mr. Hoffman returned home following the war and became a member of the South Carolina National Guard, eventually retiring as a colonel; and

Whereas, upon returning from serving overseas in World War II, Mr. Hoffman rejected his father's lucrative offer to become a partner in the family liquor store business and answered a calling to become a teacher, later earning a master's degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his career in education as an instructor at Carlisle Military School in Bamberg County, later teaching briefly in Greenwood before settling in Walterboro, where he served as an elementary school principal and Eleanor worked as a school nurse. After fourteen years in Walterboro, the family returned to Orangeburg and Gilbert served tenures at his alma mater, Ellis Avenue School, Sheridan Elementary School, and Marshall Elementary School; and

Whereas, in addition to being a loyal family man, soldier, and educator, Gilbert always found time to serve God, and remains a faithful member of the First Baptist Church in Orangeburg; and

Whereas, in 1990, Mr. Hoffman joined what eventually became the Orangeburg County Board of Elections and Registration and brought a new energy and a "can do" attitude to the elections process. During his seventeen year-four month tenure, Mr. Hoffman became certified as a commissioner through the South Carolina Election Commission and served as an active member of the South Carolina Association of Registration and Election Officials, attending the association's annual conference faithfully until Mrs. Hoffman's health no longer permitted them to travel; and

Whereas, the members of the General Assembly, by this resolution, would like to publicly recognize and thank him for his lifelong dedication and devotion to his family, his community, his schools, his nation, The Citadel, and especially the Orangeburg County Board of Elections and Registration that he has so ably served. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize and commend Mr. Gilbert A. Hoffman, Jr., of Orangeburg County, for his remarkable life and on the occasion of his retirement from the Orangeburg County Election Commission.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mr. Gilbert A. Hoffman, Jr.