Constance Anne Kemmerer, (born ) commonly known as Connie Kemmerer, is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. Kemmerer serves as a co-owner of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming in the Jackson Hole valley.[1] She has jointly owned the resort with her siblings, Jay and Betty, since 1992. Their family connection to Wyoming dates to the late nineteenth century when their great-grandfather, Mahlon Kemmerer, financed the founding of the Kemmerer Coal Company. Kemmerer, Wyoming, which started as a company town for Kemmerer Coal Company, is home to the first J. C. Penney store.[2]

Early life and education

Kemmerer grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey, a community in Millburn, New Jersey. After graduating from the Beard School (now the Morristown-Beard School) in Orange, New Jersey in 1962, she studied at Finch College in Manhattan. Kemmerer earned her master's degree in art history from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.[3] She later earned her Ph.D. in anthropology.

Integrative health and adventuring activities

In 2003, Kemmerer co-founded the Integrative Healthcare Foundation, which now goes by the name Teton Wellness Institute. While serving as chair of the Institute, she organized a presentation by adventurist Lori Schneider. On May 23, 2009, Schneider become the first person diagnosed with multiple sclerosis to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth.[4] Kemmerer served as Schneider's climbing partner when they climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the tallest mountain in Africa, in 2011.[5] After working with missionaries in Ethiopia as a young adult, Kemmerer had first climbed the mountain at age 20.[6]

C. M. Ranch

In 1997, Kemmerer jointly purchased the C. M. Ranch in Dubois, Wyoming with Jay and Bettie Kemmerer.[7] The dude ranch is one of the oldest continually operating guest ranches in the U.S. Charles Moore, the son of a trader at Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation, started C. M. Ranch in 1927[8] and ran it until the 1950s. C. M. Ranch lies adjacent to Whiskey Mountain, home to the largest wintering Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep herd in North America.[9] The ranch's location in a valley in the Wind River Mountain Range near Shoshone National Forest enables its guests to visit Yellowstone National Park with a short drive by car. The south entrance to the park is about 60 miles from the ranch.

References

  1. ↑ "Buff Sponsors Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's Up 4 Wellness Series". Outdoor Magazine. June 30, 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ Garber, Philip (January 22, 2014). "Coal Mines Lead To Ski Resort For Iconic Harding Family". The Observer-Tribune.
  3. ↑ "James E. Gray Weds Miss Constance Kemmerer". The New York Times. June 11, 1972.
  4. ↑ Held, Tom (May 23, 2009). "I'm Here Dad, I Made It; Climber with MS Conquers Mount Everest". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  5. ↑ "Two Area Women Climb Kilimanjaro for a Cause". Jackson Hole News & Guide. August 11, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Constance Kemmerer".
  7. ↑ Williamson, Norma (2002). Dubois and the Wind River Valley. pp. 84–85.
  8. ↑ "Charlie Moore Collection". duboismuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-11.
  9. ↑ "National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center and Whiskey Mountain Bighorn Sheep Area (WY)". Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2014-10-19.
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