Longtime Valley educator inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame

Lucile “Lucy” Hope was inducted to the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame on Oct. 19.

Hope was one of 10 Alaskan women honored during the virtual ceremony. Hope was most recognized for her 39 years of work with students with disabilities in the Mat-Su Borough School District. She was also highlighted for her community service in the Valley.

“This overwhelms me, it’s overwhelming to me to receive this,” Hope said.

Hope left her teaching job with Milwaukee Public Schools in Wisconsin in 1980. She travelled to Alaska on the ferry and explored the state. Hope applied to several jobs and discovered that she had been accepted for a position at Iditarod Elementary School. She planned to only stay one year.

“I thought this would be a great adventure,” Hope said. “I’m going to do this for a year. Well, after a year, I wanted to stay another year and that, of course, like many people who move here, we stay.”

When Hope arrived, she noticed a lack of programs for children with disabilities.

“What I saw pretty quickly was that our students with disabilities didn’t really have a lot of options for things to do after school,” Hope said.

She decided to get involved with the Special Olympics Program and bring more to Alaska schools. She began to grow with this program to include events like swimming and cross-country skiing. This was an important outlet for students that did not have this type of opportunity in the past.

“That grew into this program that was phenomenal, super,” Hope said. “We had many, many kids, many families and lots of people who were just begging to be coaches in this.”

Hope also helped to start a summer program for students with disabilities. This provided yet another outlet that students wouldn’t have had otherwise.

“I think she changed the face in the valley that accepted children with disabilities more readily,” Scott Daugharty, a coworker of Hope and district administrator, said.

Daugharty served as Hope’s assistant as the director of special education for five years. Daugharty was able to use his background in administration to assist Hope working with schools in the district.

Hope has stood up for students with disabilities on a state level. When students lost their funding, Hope acted as their voice. She was able to secure funding and bring attention to an issue that students with disabilities were facing. She used her knowledge of the school system and her personal relationships with students to increase funding not just in the Valley, but throughout the entire state.

Hope was able to help students with disabilities find a place outside of school. She helped to start programs that allowed students with disabilities to work and live within the community.

“Before her, [students with disabilities] just stayed in the schools and those kids wanted to be out and about too,” Daugharty said.

By working and being involved with the community outside of the school, Daugharty explained, students with disabilities didn’t need to be subjected to additional years of high school.

“They’re out doing something in the community and some of them have been hired full time on at the hospitals and the food banks and stuff like that,” Daugharty said. “And that’s all Lucy Hope.”

Hope used her outgoing personality to unite the community. When a space opened up in Wasilla where the old airport used to be, Hope contributed to help build Wonderland Park. Her voice and her outreach brought together a network of people to build something that is still around today.

Hope believes that a desire to meet people has provided her with many unique opportunities. She was the first woman to join Alyeska Ski Patrol, took badminton lessons and learned bridge, all to meet new people. She recently volunteered to greet people looking to receive vaccines. She relates her community-focused attitude to her upbringing.

“I think I just learned from my parents, that you pay attention to what’s going on in your community,” Hope said. “You look around and you figure out, ‘is there a way you could help to make it better?’”

This outlook on her community allowed Hope to support her neighbors and students as problems arose. It is with her relationships that Hope has made a name for herself in the Mat-Su Valley.

“She has the greatest relationships with everybody,” Daugharty said. “Nobody dislikes Lucy Hope.”

Contact the Frontiersman at news@frontiersman.com.