STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTO BY KRISTINE BRETALL

Learn about Sun Valley Resort founder Averell Harriman from a different perspective when local history buff Mary Pat Gunderson offers “History, Harriman and a Hike.”

Gunderson will share her knowledge of Harriman—not just the Union Pacific magnate who founded America’s first destination ski resort—but the Harriman who was involved in some fascinating and even titillating episodes on the world stage during World War II.

It will also offer a look at his daughter Kathleen Harriman and Pamela Digby Churchill, who later became Pamela Harriman.

“While locally we may think of him almost entirely in terms of his founding of Sun Valley, in most biographies of Harriman, Sun Valley is hardly a mention,” noted Kristine Bretall, director of the Wood River Museum of History + Culture. 

The free hike, organized by The Community Library’s Wood River Museum, will take place from noon to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22. Participants should meet at the Hemingway Memorial on Sun Valley Road by noon prepared to hike part of the Aspen Loop on Proctor Mountain.

Mary Pat Gunderson is a retired District Court judge from Des Moines, Iowa. Prior to being appointed to the bench she served as a magistrate and assistant county attorney serving in the Major Offense Bureau where she specialized in sexual assault prosecutions and child abuse cases.

Upon retiring she and her husband moved to the Wood River Valley in 2020, where she is making a documentary based on some of the powerful stories she heard while serving as a Judge.

To register your interest in the hike, go to https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/15406982.