STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Monica Carol Church, the granddaughter of Frank and Bethine Church and Cecil and Carol Andrus, will present a lecture on “Democracy: Echoes of Integrity” Wednesday at Ketchum’s Community Library.

The lecture, subtitled “A Compass for Today’s Decision-Makers,” will start at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. To see it in person, RSVP at https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/13128688. It also will be livestreamed and available to watch later at https://vimeo.com/event/4636858.

The lecture is being presented as part of the Kenneth Lewis Lecture on Democracy series.

Church is a lifelong educator who recently returned to the public school classroom after years of serving as the executive director of the Frank Church Institute at Boise State University. This year she edited and co-authored an educational textbook of Sen. Frank Church speeches for secondary educators titled “The Future Starts Today, not Tomorrow.”

She feels strongly about civic engagement, public education and the preservation of public lands and she can be heard often on Boise State Public Radio.

An eternal scholar, she holds degrees in Philosophy, Cultural Anthropology, History and Secondary Social Studies Education. She also has an MSEd in Public School Administration.

She sits on the boards of the Sawtooth Society, which is based in Hailey, and of the Andrus Center at Boise State University. She also serves on the Idaho Delegation of the United States Global Leadership Coalition and is an Ethics Commissioner for the City of Boise where she lives with her husband and daughter.

Church presented Ketchum environmental activist Ann Christensen with a tree planted in her honor on the SNRA at the Sawtooth Society’s annual Sagebrush Soiree in 2023, praising Christensen as “someone who’s willing to slow down, look down and show us what’s at our feet.”

“Ann and I would agree: There’s no greater feeling of accomplishment than watching the child you’ve mentored become the future you hoped for,” she added.