Skiing legend and local environmental icon Andrea Mead Lawrence passed away in her home just after midnight on March 31, 2009. She had been suffering from Leiomyosarcoma (cancer of the soft/connective tissue). All her five children and grandchildren were with her in her last hours.
     Lawrence has the distinction of being the only American skier to win two golds in a single Winter Olympic Games (1952, Oslo, Norway). Moving to Mammoth Lakes in 1968, Lawrence became famous again for her environmental efforts in founding the Friends for Mammoth to oppose environmentally damaging development in Mammoth Lakes. This successful legal action resulted in the landmark California Supreme Court case, Friends of Mammoth v. Mono County (1972).

     She went on to be a Mono County Supervisor from 1983 to 1999 and Represented Mono County before the U.S. Congress to support a National Academy of Science Study on Mono Basin. She also testified before US. Congress in support of the Mono Lake National Forest Scenic Area (approved),  the Bodie Protection Act (approved), the California Wilderness Act and the Desert Protection Act.  Lawrence also helped found the Southern Mono Historical Society in 1983, the Sierra Nevada Alliance, in 1993 and the Sierra Nevada Regional Initiative in 2000.

     In lieu of flowers, the family requests that those who wish may donate to the Andrea Lawrence Institute of Mountains and Rivers (ALIMAR).  Go to www.alimar.org for information, or mail donation to ALIMAR, P.O.Box 100, PMB334, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546.