Heritage Court 2024
Lady Betty Brooks
There have been Brooks in Hailey for decades. Betty Brooks is proud to be third generation in a family that at one time owned the Liberty Theatre, The Brooks Hotel (next to where Jhonny’s is today), an auto repair garage, the Liberty Rock Shop and Marinello’s Beauty Salon and cosmetology school. Betty’s grandmother, Winnie Brooks, was the matriarch and founded the beauty salon long before women opened businesses. Today Betty lives in the house that Winnie Brooks moved from Gannett in 1945 and set on a foundation. This home served as a location for their businesses and is where the fourth generation of Brooks was partly raised. The house could tell a lot of stories. After graduating from Hailey High School, Betty went to beautician’s school and joined her father, Bill Brooks (working as a barber), her grandmother and, later, her sister at Marinello’s. Betty married a fellow from out of town (Bellevue) and they had two children, Laura who lives in Seattle and John who lives in Boise. Betty and her husband divorced, and Betty started exploring beyond the salon.
Betty chose the academic track, receiving her Associate of Arts degree in her 40’s from College of Southern Idaho. Then, with a scholarship to Idaho State University, she earned a master’s degree in psychology. Realizing she needed a license to practice as a counselor, she went to Northwest Nazarene College and received a degree in counseling and then her license. She worked for HeadStart as a family advocate, then for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, retiring at age 68. At the same time, she started her private counseling practice, working primarily with adults experiencing depression, anxiety, and anger for over thirty years.
While raising two outstanding athletes, going to school then working essentially two jobs, Betty also enjoyed dancing and joined the High Country Swingers who held dances locally. That is where she met her current husband of over thirty years, Ron Foster. He was from Twin Falls but working as a plumber in the Wood River Valley. Betty served the Catholic church in a variety of capacities. She supported her children in their athletic endeavors. Her daughter talked Betty into running in local races. Betty and family cross country skied. Betty Brooks has been and still is active.
Retired, with her kids off on their own, Betty has not slowed down. She is still dancing in the Senior Connection’s line dancing class. She also takes exercise classes there. When not at exercise class, she is on her bike, on the bike path or, in the winter, nordic skiing at Quigley. Watercolor class, computer and phone technology class… clearly Betty loves to learn.
When asked to describe herself, Betty says she appreciates family. She is glad to have two of her five siblings here, in the Valley (one has passed on and the other lives nearby). Betty is proud of her family heritage. She is also very glad to live here, that appreciation even growing as she has gotten older. This was a great place to raise her children, she says. “We have good weather (no tornadoes or hurricanes), and we have easy access to the outdoors”.
Lady Jerry Ann Heaney
As she frequently says, Jerry Ann Heaney considers herself blest. She is definitely a “glass half full” positive lady. Jerry Ann Fehrenbacher grew up in several northwest towns as her father was transferred with the Union Pacific railroad. However, she spent most of her youth in Pocatello. During high school she visited Sun Valley Resort several times with the ski club. After some college, she came to Sun Valley for an idyllic summer in 1962 and never left. She lived in the women’s dorms developing lifelong friendships. Making little money but with expenses covered, Sun Valley was “a wonderful place”. She worked in the Inn Continental Cafeteria and soda fountain, the Sun Valley Drug Store and Lodge Newsstand.
After the sale of the resort to the Janss Corporation, she waitressed in the newly opened Boiler Room, the Ram and then at Trail Creek Cabin. Her memories are vivid. Jerry Ann met John Heaney, while he too was working for Sun Valley. They married in 1966, moved to a cabin on Trail Creek in Ketchum and had two sons; Spyder who lives in San Francisco and Adam who lives in Newport Beach. After seven years at Sun Valley, Jerry Ann decided to try something new and went to work at the Christiania restaurant in Ketchum where she worked for the next 26 years.
Meanwhile John traveled representing K2 and then Solomon ski equipment. The boys were growing, and John wanted to be home, so he and Jerry Ann opened and operated a ski repair and consignment shop for six years. As Jerry Ann says, most people needed a couple jobs to make ends meet.
John was also a painting contractor for 38 years and she worked at the Christiania. Jerry Ann and John like to play. At one point they decided “Ketchum needs a new toy”. In 1979 they introduced wind surfing to the Valley after buying a Boston Whaler, a one design windsurfer plus learning boards. With one page of instructions on how to rig and sale the windsurfer, they headed to Mexico in the spring of 1979 and taught themselves. Jerry Ann describes fun filled wind surfing regattas at Magic Reservoir and at other water bodies in east, west and central Idaho.
The Heaney’s took up long distance bicycling. They cycled from Ketchum to Boise over Mores Creek Summit and cycled from Seattle to Portland twice. Long distance motorcycle trips began in 1976. Their trips including Canada, down the west Coast, Mexico, and the eastern United States. They stopped riding in their 70’s. And throughout the years, skiing Bald Mountain was and is a favorite place.
Jerry Ann is a woman of faith, active in Our Lady of Snows Catholic Church. She served the community on the cemetery board for twelve years and volunteered with the local elections for 43 years. She is a woman who considers herself blest with her husband, her sons, dear family and longtime friends from her first days here in the Valley. As she says “God has been good to us”.
Lady Dianne Parke
Dianne Parke of Carey moved to the Wood River Valley from Heber City, Utah when she was five years old. Her father was serving in the war at the time and Dianne and her mother moved to Carey to be closer to family. The strong sense of community and the beautiful surroundings has kept Dianne from ever leaving. “I love the people, the changing seasons, and the stunning natural beauty of the area.”
Dianne met her future husband, Darwin, during high school. At the time, Darwin was already five years older than Dianne and was attending Brigham Young University in Provo. One summer, while Darwin was home working at the Carey gas station, he arranged their first date in an unusual way. Since he had to work, Darwin asked his twin brother to call Dianne and pretend to be him to set the date. Both she and Darwin started their year together at BYU. They tied the knot right after she completed her freshman year and have been together ever since.
They will be married sixty-one years strong on August 28th.
One of Dianne’s proudest achievements has been being a mother and raising her family in Carey. She has five children, 22 grandchildren and by the end of August, she’ll have 16 great- grandchildren, including a granddaughter who is expecting twins in a few days!
As Darwin farmed and worked in the oil and gas business, Dianne began her professional career as a teacher in Dietrich. She taught 2nd and 3rd graders together there for one year. She eventually got a teaching position in Carey, where she taught 4th grade. Dianne taught for 19 years until her retirement from the Blaine County School District in 2007. As well as being proud of her family, Dianne is proud of the achievements of her students, many of whom have gone on to do remarkable things.
In addition to her teacher career, she and her husband spent 18 months on a mission at the Navajo Indian Reservation. Sent on their LDS mission to help uplift the local community, they team taught career workshops and employment skills, assisting the Navajo Indians to obtain jobs. At the end of the workshops, the participants were able to present a 30-second summary of themselves. One memorable experience from her mission was tutoring a young man to obtain his GED and help him secure a job. Dianne later discovered that his mother also did not have her GED and was able to help her obtain a certificate as well. Besides enjoying the art of baking bread, Dianne has been actively involved in the community through church activities, visiting the elderly, and volunteering in various capacities.
For Dianne, Carey and the Wood River Valley is more than a place to live; it’s a community where she’s found purpose and fulfillment through teaching, family and volunteering.
Lady Ann VanEvery
Ann VanEvery of Bellevue is a strong, independent individual deeply rooted in taking care of family and community. Ann was born in Arapaho, Nebraska, and lived there until 1955 when her adopted parents Helen and Carl Hall moved the family to Rupert, Idaho. In Idaho, Helen and Carl contributed to the expansion of Lockwood Raiders, a farming supplies company. Ann attended Minico High School and graduated in 1966.
Ann married her first husband, Ed VanEvery before relocating to Bellevue. Ed was an electrician and one of the first radio announcers in the valley. They had a daughter named Sonya and soon purchased a property on 6th Street “where her neighbors were pasture, horses and cattle.” Ann’s greatest pride and accomplishment is her family and her extended family. Her grandchildren are Elizabeth, Zachery, Vanessa, and Gabe, and her great-grandchildren are Esham, Carvyn, Isiah (lost at an early age), Maxon, Barclay, Lylla, and Zyana. Ann’s adopted daughter, has three children: Marcos, Lilianna, and Lucas. “Nana’s house” where Ann still resides, remains the primary home where most of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren live just a stone’s throw away. Ann met her second husband Michael Douglas while working as a bartender at the Silver Dollar.
They married in 1982 and were together until his death in 2011. She became a mom to her stepchildren Michael Douglas and Brenda Douglas and her “adopted” daughter, Sara Johnston.
One of many jobs in Ann’s early days was working at the First Security Bank in the Lane Building on the corner of Sun Valley Road where she lived in one of the original log cabins in Ketchum. She took a position at the Sun Valley Resort in 1974, working there until she retired in 2020. As the resort head cashier, Ann worked for Bill Janss before the Holdings took over and still remains a close friend to Carol Holding.
Over the years, Ann has become deeply connected to her community. Together with her first husband and Bellevue community members, Ann formed the valley’s first search and rescue in 1973. They were the first to introduce bloodhounds to aid in searches. Ann started attending the St. Charles church and is seen ushering Sunday morning masses while raising funds for the 2023 140th year celebration. Ann also finds time to be a Wood River Toy Run member. According to her step-grandson Gabe, “My grandma uses her experience to help raise funds for unsupported families that help give children fantastic Christmases. Retirement has been anything but relaxation.”
Ann is particularly proud of her role as a home care giver. She’s dedicated her life to caregiving, beginning with her daughter Sonya, and has continued in this role ever since. Both Ann’s stepchildren were born with disabilities necessitating frequent visits to specialists and doctors. She would often put her job on hold to ensure they received the care they needed.
In addition to her caregiving duties, Ann experienced significant personal losses. When her second husband passed away in 2011, Ann contributed to the Douglas’s corner of the Hailey Cemetery. She had her name engraved on the family headstone, humorously noting that she’s already paid for her final resting place. Following her stepdaughter’s death in 2022, Ann took in Brenda’s children Gabe and Vanessa. She helped Gabe complete high school and supported him through college. She also provides a certified family home and ongoing support for her stepson, who uses a wheelchair. Ann is the official after-school babysitter for her stepdaughter’s children and the youngest, five year old Isaac. Ann’s tireless work often goes unacknowledged, and she rarely take credit for her contributions.
Her dedication and selflessness embody the qualities of an unsung hero, making a significant impact on her family’s lives and the community of Bellevue.