STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Four women will be inducted into the 14th annual Blaine County Historical Museum’s Heritage Court in an entertaining ceremony at 3 p.m. today—Sunday, June 11—at the Liberty Theater in Hailey.
The four are Betty Murphy of Ketchum, Sue Rowland of Hailey, Grace Eakin of Bellevue and Edith Conrad of Carey.
The induction honors women for their contributions to making the Wood River Valley what it is today.
“I really found it quite meaningful,” said Ruth Lieder, former mayor of Sun Valley who was honored a few years ago. “I turned it down the first time they asked me because I said I was not old enough. But when I finally accepted I ended up loving the experience. Now I’m going to be 86.”
The women were feted by the Community Library in a tea a few weeks ago at the Sun Valley Historica Museum.
Jenny Emery Davidson, the library’s executive director read a short passage from Annie Pipe Greenwood’s book, “We Sagebrush Folks,” which she said reminded her of women on the range and their contributions to today’s world.
The book, Davidson said, evokes an appreciation for the landscape of Idaho and the sense of adventure and hard work that these women engaged in as part of it.
Interestingly, Greenwood’s farm five miles east of Hazelton is the farm that Joan Davies, also an inductee in the Heritage Court, grew up on and still owns.