Remember Jill Kinmont Boothe, the former ski champion who was paralyzed in a skiing accident?

[raccoon]

Kinmont Boothe was the U.S. slalom champion when she was injured in 1955. She became a teacher, especially for the physically challenged and learning disabled in the latter part of her career, and still oversees an education fund for Native American youth.

May 22, 2011|Jerry Crowe

Jill Kinmont Boothe is still going strong more than 50 years after paralyzing skiing accident

In January 1955, the Los Angeles native was the U.S. women's slalom champion and one of the country's brightest medal hopes for the 1956 Winter Olympics at Cortina, Italy.

...Kinmont crashed during a race at Alta, Utah. She suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord damage, the accident leaving her a quadriplegic and, in time, the subject of the 1975 film, "The Other Side of the Mountain," and its 1978 sequel, "The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2."

Eventually earning her teaching credential at the University of Washington – UCLA denied her admission to its School of Education, she says, because it considered her "unemployable" – the ex-skier taught outside Seattle and in Beverly Hills for a number of years before returning to Bishop in 1975

She sees no reason to dwell on what might have been. "My life has really been very full," Kinmont Boothe says. "I've had lots of wonderful experiences."

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/22/sports/la-sp-crowe-20110523

She's one of my heroes.