Lyman, Stanley David, 1913-1979

Born of Quaker stock October 7, 1913, in Helena, Montana, Stanley David Lyman was raised on his parents' farm along the Belle Fourche River in South Dakota. After graduating from Vale High School in 1932, he enrolled in Yankton College, a private Congregational institution. In 1936 with his newly earned bachelor's degree in English, Lyman tackled the tight job market of the Great Depression. His efforts were rewarded with a job as a seventh- and eighth-grade home teacher, earning an annual salary of 630 dollars. He taught junior and senior high school in Sturgis, South Dakota, from 1937 until 1941.

The first of Lyman's three assignments at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, was with the Farm Security Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture in 1941. As assistant rehabilitation supervisor, he worked with non-Indian farmers to make their few acres economically feasible ventures. It was during this time that he met June Kremer, who was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as girls adviser at the Oglala Community High School. The two were married August 25, 1942.

A member of the National Guard, Lyman was activated for service during World War II but failed to pass his physical examination. During the war years he continued to work with the Department of Agriculture, first as farm labor assistant, responsible for locating migrant Mexican nationals and moving them to rural labor markets in the United States. He had learned Spanish in school and applied it throughout his career. Later he was appointed project supervisor for the Belle Fourche Irrigation Project, spending his summers studying at Colorado State University, where he completed his master's degree in English in 1944.

Following World War II, Lyman returned with his wife to Vale, South Dakota, where they managed a 360-acre irrigated ranch owned by the Lyman family. For three years they raised sheep, sugar beets, and hay. Lyman was involved in Western South Dakota Farm Labor Associations, served as president of the Vale Community Club, and was a member of the South Dakota Wool Growers Association, the Black Hills Beet Growers Association, and the Butte County Extention Service Board. In 1950 the Lymans moved to Plankinton where they worked at the South Dakota State Training School, Stanley as a teacher and June as a counselor.

Through his efforts to begin working for the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, Lyman was hired in 1952 as an agency relocation officer, his second assignment at Pine Ridge. His experience with migrant workers during the war helped him advance quickly in the new relocation program. In 1953 he became the assistant area placement officer in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the following year was assigned to Denver, Colorado, as a field relocation officer. Four years later he was transferred to Chicago, Illinois, to supervise the relocation office there.

Lyman spent the next ten years with the bureau as a reservation superintendent. His first assignment was at Fort Peck Agency in Poplar, Montana, where he became closely involved with the local Indian residents, supervised completion of an irrigation system, and oversaw the leasing of oil acreage and agricultural land.

Transferred to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in 1967, Lyman helped the Ute tribe make some notable achievements, including the reduction of the welfare case load, introduction of successful business enterprises such as Bottle Hollow Resort, and reorganization of tribal finances to better profit tribe members. With the assistance of Floyd A. O'Neil and the staff at the University of Utah American West Center, June Lyman played an instrumental role in introducing a Ute history program into Utah public schools.

Lyman's third appointment at Pine Ridge, as reservation superintendent from October 1971 to November 1973, was undoubtedly his most challenging. The early years of the 1970s saw growing militancy within the Indian tribes as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. In February 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the village of Wounded Knee, forcing Lyman to act as intermediary between Oglala Sioux tribal leaders and United States federal officials. In most matters of controversy he tried to support the tribal government and the idea of Indian self-determination.

Following the Wounded Knee crisis, Lyman made arrangements to be transferred to the Phoenix, Arizona, area office as head of the new Trust Protection Unit. But when asked by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council to remain at Pine Ridge, he delayed his move several months until November 1973. As trust protection officer, Lyman was involved in water, land, and resources rights cases in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California.

Following his retirement in 1976, Lyman continued to work with the Trust Protection Unit as a consultant on water rights until his health began to fail in late 1977. During his years with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he involved himself in a number of supervisory and administrative training programs. The bureau recognized his contributions in 1978 with a Citation for Meritorious Service.

Stanley D. Lyman died January 21, 1979.

From the guide to the Stanley D. Lyman papers, 1923-1979, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)