Andrea Mead Lawrence

Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1952 Oslo	Slalom
Gold	1952 Oslo	Giant slalom

Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009)^[1][2] was an American alpine ski racer. She competed in three Winter Olympics (and two world championships) and was the first American alpine skier to win two Olympic gold medals.

Skiing career

Andrea Mead was born in Rutland County, Vermont to an alpine skiing family that owned and operated the Pico Peak ski area. At age 14 she made the national team, and at age 15 competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where she placed eighth in the slalom, and sixth at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, she was selected as captain of the U.S. women's team at age 19. She won both the slalom and the giant slalom events. She succeeded Gretchen Fraser, who had won gold in the slalom in 1948, as the top American woman ski racer. She also competed at the 1956 Winter Olympics, placing fourth in the giant slalom. She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1958^[3] and carried the torch at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, passed it to America gold medalist speed skater Ken Henry, who circled the ice rink then ascended the Tribune of Honor and ignited the Olympic flame..^[4]

Life after skiing

After fighting against development at the ski area, she was elected as a Mono County supervisor in 1982, and served for 16 years.

In 2003, she founded the Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers, a non-profit organization committed to conservation, specifically in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. A resident of the area for over 40 years, she was also a long-time advocate for the preservation of Mono Lake and other environmental concerns.

On April 29, 2010 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Representative Howard P. “Buck” McKeon announced legislation to rename Peak 12,240 in Mono County “Mt. Andrea Lawrence,” in memory of Lawrence.^[5]

Personal life

Family

Mead married fellow U.S. Ski Team member David Lawrence in 1951. They moved to Aspen, Colorado in the 1960s, where she became a member of the town's planning board. The couple separated and divorced in 1967. With five young children and little money, she moved her family in 1968 to Mammoth Lakes, California, near Mammoth Mountain.

Death

Lawrence was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma in 2000, from which she died on March 30, 2009, several weeks before her 77th birthday.^[2]

References

External links

• National Ski Hall of Fame - Andrea Mead Lawrence - inducted 1958
• FIS-ski.com - Andrea Mead Lawrence
• TIME.com - cover of TIME magazine - 21-Jan-1952
  • article - "She Skis for Fun"
• Skiing History.org - Andrea Mead Lawrence
• Vermont Ski Museum.org - Andrea Mead Lawrence
• alimar.org - Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers
• Mono Lake Committee.org - Board of Directors
• Nevasport.com - Andrea Mead Biography and photos
• Bio of Andrea Mead Lawrence at Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers