Your buddy Lyman in his old age turned into a ************
Reading between the lines , this seems an axample of the common problem in congregations, "What to with elders when they get old and a bit 'absent'?"
They are still respected for what they have done and the cong gently eases them out of the main roles, but they still deliver small items on the platform, offer prayers etc. Sometimes they can be embarrassing but tolerated because they are a part of the long-standing congregation. Nobody takes their remarks too seriously. Unless they volunteer to stand down, nobody retires from eldership.
Old age is no time to judge a man if his faculties are fading