STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Thelma Cameron parlayed bum lambs that she raised as a youth out Bellevue’s Glendale Road into a seven-week Citizen Ambassador trip to Europe.

Amy Federko, whose mother helped found The Community Library in Ketchum, has long mentored youth, teaching them horse riding skills through 4-H.

Carey’s Gail Peterson, who recalls when Hailey boasted just 1,100 people, has taught countless young girls how to quilt through 4-H.

The Heritage Court cakes were as flavorful as they were colorful.

And Hailey’s Vicki Stewart Smith, who was born in the Sun Valley Lodge, recalls the resort’s early years when her mother worked as secretary to Averell Harriman and her father served as a fishing and hunting guide for such celebrities as Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper.

These are the four ladies who have been nominated to the 2026 Blaine County Historical Museum’s Heritage Court.

The women were introduced to Heritage Court members Thursday as The Community Library’s Center for Regional History hosted its annual Heritage Court Tea.

Alexandra Vallejo and Carolina Estrella doled out cucumber sandwiches and slices of  decadent chocolate and vanilla cake created by Vinny Carpenter. And Heritage Court board member Kelli Young recounted the names of those who have been inducted into the Court dating back to its founding in 2004.

Carolina Estrella and Alexandra Vallejo, who work with the Blaine County Historical Museum and The Library, handed out cucumber sandwiches.

The Court was established by the late Teddie Daley and Laura Hall to honor women who have contributed to the fabric of life in the Wood River Valley over many years.

“This tea is kicking off a celebration of extraordinary women who have made this an extraordinary place to live,” the Community Library’s Executive Director Jenny Emery Davidson told those in attendance.

She said the stories of the women resonate with “The Traveling Onion,” in which Naomi Shihab Nye writes, “When I think of how far the onion has traveled just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise all small forgotten miracles…”

“I look around this room and see all of you women and think of all the service you’ve given,” Davidson said.

Lorna Kolash entertained a table full of women with tales of teaching fourth-graders how to make sourdough pancakes—a staple in the valley’s pioneer days.

Blaine County Historical Museum Director Rebecca Cox stressed the importance of honoring the women: “We always say: There are a lot of unseen heroes, and women in particular.”

Women are wonderfully complex, she continued: “There is endurance but also fragileness. Strength, but softness. Correction, but encouragement. A woman’s voice can cause people to stand straighter and rise to expectation, and it can also bring words of kindness and encouragement that remain in someone’s heart for an entire lifetime.”

Each of the women who have been honored by the Heritage Court has brought their own unique combination of those qualities into the work of their lives, she added.

She noted how Lorna Kolash, named to the 2025 Heritage Court, had just spent three days teaching all the fourth-graders in the county how to make sourdough pancakes at the new Wild West Days organized by the museum as part of schools’ fourth grade focus on Idaho history.

Heritage Court cookies were meant to be taken home to savor later.

“You have carried responsibilities, families, careers, volunteerism, hardships and hopes and somehow kept all the pieces moving with grace and purpose,” she said. “Your lives become examples. Your work creates ripples. Your presence creates change in ways you may never fully realize.”

The women will be inducted into the Heritage Court in a ceremony filled with music and refreshment on Sunday, June 14. They will also ride in the Hailey Fourth of July Parade, Carey’s Pioneer Days Parade, Ketchum’s Wagon Days Parade and Bellevue’s Labor Day Parade.