Andrea Mead Lawrence

{{Infobox alpine ski racer

| image = David and Andrea Lawrence 1956.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = David and Andrea Lawrence at the 1956 Olympics

| disciplines = Downhill, giant slalom, slalom, combined

| club = Pico Peak Ski Club{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/me/andrea-mead-lawrence-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417161817/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/me/andrea-mead-lawrence-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Andrea Mead-Lawrence}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1932|4|19}}

| birth_place = Rutland County, Vermont, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|2009|3|30|1932|4|19}}

| death_place = Mammoth Lakes, California

| height = 5 ft 8 in

| wcdebut =

| retired =

| website =

| olympicteams = 3 – (1948, 1952, 1956)

| olympicmedals = 2

| olympicgolds = 2

| worldsteams = 4 – (1948, 1950, 1952, 1956)
includes 3 Olympics

| worldsmedals = 2

| worldsgolds = 2

| wcseasons =

| wcwins =

| wcpodiums =

| wcoveralls =

| wctitles =

| medals =

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

| show-medals = yes

}}

Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009){{cite news|title=Andrea Mead Lawrence dies at 76; Olympic Alpine skier became environmentalist |first=Valerie J. |last=Nelson |date=April 1, 2009 |access-date=April 2, 2009 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-andrea-lawrence2-2009apr02,0,3719619.story |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405132500/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-andrea-lawrence2-2009apr02%2C0%2C3719619.story |archive-date=5 April 2009 |url-status=live }} was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during that period), and was the first American alpine skier to win two Olympic gold medals.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/sports/othersports/02lawrence.html |url-access=registration |title=Andrea Mead Lawrence, Skiing Champion, Dies at 76 |first=Douglas |last=Martin |date=2009-04-01 |access-date=2020-07-25 |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904124233/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/sports/othersports/02lawrence.html |archive-date=2015-09-04 |url-status=live |issn=0362-4331}}

Skiing career

Mead was born in Rutland County, Vermont, to an alpine skiing family that owned and operated the Pico Peak ski area.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19660114&id=M3kgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kWcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2869,1282468 |newspaper=Lewiston Evening Journal |agency=Associated Press |title=Pico Peak bounces back into the skiing limelight |date=January 14, 1966 |page=10}} 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. Two years later, Mead placed sixth in the giant slalom and ninth in the downhill at the 1950 World Championships in Aspen, United States.

At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, Mead Lawrence was selected as captain of the U.S. women's team at age 19. This led to her being the January 21 Time cover-story, just days before the team arrived in Oslo.{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19520121,00.html |title=(COVER) Andrea Mead Lawrence: On Switzerland's Magic Mountain, a Vermont freshet |first=Ernest Hamlin |last=Baker |author-link=Ernest Hamlin Baker |magazine=Time |date=1952-01-12 |volume=LIX |number=3 |access-date=2020-07-25}} The Time story was prescient{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,815892,00.html |url-access=subscription |title=Sport: She Skis for Fun |magazine=Time |date=1952-01-12 |volume=LIX |number=3 |access-date=2020-07-25}}{{snd}}she won both the slalom and the giant slalom events.

Between the 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics, Mead Lawrence gave birth to three children,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19560105&id=jk8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qmYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1100,320654|newspaper=Lewiston Daily Sun|title=Mother of three, Andrea Mead Lawrence, favored in giant slalom at Grindelwald |last=Zusy|first=Fred |agency=Associated Press |date=January 5, 1956 |page=13}} sitting out the 1954 World Championship season.

Returning for the 1956 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Mead Lawrence competed in all three disciplines, placing fourth in the giant slalom.{{cite web |title=Andrea Mead Lawrence |url=https://olympics.com/en/athletes/andrea-mead-lawrence |access-date=25 September 2023 |website=Olympics.com}}

In 1958, just two years after retiring from competition, Mead Lawrence was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=https://skihall.com/hall-of-famers/andrea-mead-lawrence/ |title=Andrea Mead Lawrence - Hall of Fame Class of 1958 |work=National Ski Hall of Fame |access-date=2020-07-25}} She was chosen as the penultimate torchbearer at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, US, passed it to American 1952 Olympic gold medal speed skater Ken Henry, who circled the ice rink then ascended the Tribune of Honor and ignited the Olympic flame.Antonucci, David C. (2009) Snowball's Chance: The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley & Lake Tahoe. {{ISBN|1-4392-5904-6}}. p. 65.

Olympic results [[File:Olympic rings.svg|50px]]

class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Year !! Age !! Slalom !! Giant Slalom !! Downhill !! Combined
\| 1948	15	8	not run	35	21
\| 1952	19	style="background:gold;"\|1	style="background:gold;"\|1	17	rowspan=2\|not run
1956	23	25	4	30

World Championship results

class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Year !! Age !! Slalom !! Giant Slalom !! Downhill !! Combined
\| 1948	15	8	not run	35	21
1950	17	17	6	9	rowspan=2\|not run
\| 1952	19	style="background:gold;"\|1	style="background:gold;"\|1	17
~~1954~~	21	colspan=4\|~~did not compete~~
1956	23	25	4	30

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.

Life after ski racing

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

In 1980, her memoir was published as A Practice of Mountains, with Sara Burnaby as a co-author.

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.

Legacy

In 2009, a ski run at Mammoth Mountain was named in her honor.{{cite web |title=Mammoth Ski Run To Be Named After Andrea Meade Lawrence - Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra NewsSierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News |url=https://sierrawave.net/mammoth-ski-run-to-be-named-after-andrea-meade-lawrence/ |date=13 November 2009}}

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 as "Mount Andrea Lawrence," in memory of Lawrence.[http://thesheetnews.com/archives/2439 Archives | The Sheet – Part 2439]. Thesheetnews.com. Retrieved on 2015-06-12. On January 10, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act of 2011, officially designating Mount Andrea Lawrence.{{cite web | url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1818 | title=H.R. 1818 (112th): Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act of 2011 |author=112th United States Congress |author-link=112th United States Congress | publisher=govtrack.us |date=2013-01-10 |access-date=2020-07-25}}

Lawrence is a member of the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame,{{cite web |url=http://www.vermontsportshall.com/2012meadlawrence.html |title= Andrea Mead Lawrence: Alpine skiing - Rutland - Inducted 2012 |work=Vermont Sports Hall of Fame |date=2012-11-17 |access-date=2020-07-25}} inducted in its inaugural class of 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.vermontsportshall.com/2012meadlawrence.html |title=Inaugural Class: 2012 |work=Vermont Sports Hall of Fame |date=2012-11-17 |access-date=2020-07-25}}

On November 8, 2013, two Vermont non-profit organizations opened a new multi-use adaptive sports and youth skiing center at Andrea Mead Lawrence's home mountain of Pico Peak, Vermont. The Andrea Mead Lawrence Lodge at Pico will serve as the permanent home and base camp for the non-profit missions of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports and the Pico Ski Education Foundation.

Personal life

=Family=

Mead married fellow U.S. Ski Team member David Lawrence in Switzerland in March 1951.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1979&dat=19660706&id=YZciAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X6oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=896,451370|newspaper=Sumter (SC) Daily Item |agency=Associated Press |title=People in the news |date=July 6, 1966 |page=11B }} They moved to a ranch in Parshall, Colorado in 1954 and then to Aspen in the 1960s, where she became a member of the town's planning board. The couple separated and divorced in 1967.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19670509&id=sq0rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=if0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7078,917865|newspaper=Nashua (NH) Telegraph |title=People in the news|date=May 9, 1967 |page=7 }} With five young children and little money, she moved her family in 1968 to Mammoth Lakes, California, near Mammoth Mountain.

Her nephew is Matt Mead, Governor of Wyoming from 2011 to 2019.{{cite web |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/mead.htm |title=Matt Mead ancestry |website=freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.Ancestry.com |date=2015-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614041129/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/mead.htm |archive-date=2015-06-14 |access-date=2020-07-25 |quote=1. Matthew Hansen “Matt” Mead:... 2. (father) Peter Bradford Mead: (the) ... brother of Andrea Mead Lawrence, winner of 2 gold medals at 1952 Winter Olympic Games}}

=Death=

Lawrence was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma in 2000, from which she died on March 30, 2009, at age 76.

In popular culture

She was portrayed by Kandi McCoy (Daughter of Dave McCoy) in the 1975 film The Other Side of the Mountain (credited as "Candy McCoy").

References

External links

{{FIS alpine skier|39366}}
{{USOPC Hall of Fame|new_id=andrea-mead-lawrence|old_id=Andrea-Mead-Lawrence|archive=20230720074723}}
{{Olympics.com profile|andrea-mead-lawrence}}
{{Olympedia}}
[http://skiinghistory.org/lives/andrea-mead-lawrence Skiing History.org] – Andrea Mead Lawrence
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080509064543/http://www.vermontskimuseum.org/hall02.htm Vermont Ski Museum.org] – Andrea Mead Lawrence
[https://web.archive.org/web/20081211133304/http://www.alimar.org/andrea_personal.html alimar.org] – Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927015057/http://www.nevasport.com/nevablogs/d/andrea-mead/3797 Nevasport.com] – Andrea Mead Biography and photos
[https://web.archive.org/web/20081211133304/http://www.alimar.org/andrea_personal.html Bio of Andrea Mead Lawrence at Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers]
[http://www.vermontsportshall.com/2012meadlawrence.html Vermont Sports Hall of Fame Bio]