Hofseth, Edward Ernest

Born at Bethel, AK; deafened at age 4 or 5 by a beating from a gang of teenage boys. Also blinded in one eye in 1974 by an accident while working for a chemical company. Public schools for a few months until becoming deaf; remained uneducated until age 14, when he went to the Utah School for the Deaf, graduating in 1972. Took some courses at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, but had to stop when he had his eye accident. Later, he was able to take some painting classes at the UA Anchorage campus. Worked 1992-2000 as a maintenance technician for a hunting and fishing guide company; on the side, he made and sold artwork, especially painted tree burls.