EDUCATE
IN MEMORY
Claudia Pearson
By Meredith Hardwick Former NOLS Marketing Representative
C
laudia Pearson, NOLS rations guru, energetic and outspoken sparkplug, horsewoman, and friend to many, died on Nov. 3, 2020 after a long illness. She retired in May 2019 after working for NOLS for 40 years in the Rocky Mountain campus’s rations department. Her friend Meredith Hardwick penned this tribute. –Editor Claudia has meant more than words can describe to the NOLS community. She was a mentor, friend, inspiration, and mother hen to the many people she worked with. Including me. Shortly after I moved to Lander for a NOLS internship, Claudia took me under her wing, and we became nearly inseparable until the day I left Lander. We even dressed as Thelma and Louise one Halloween! Almost 60 years old when we met, Claudia had the energy of an unsupervised toddler. On mountain bike rides, it was all I could do to stay within shouting distance of her as her surprisingly strong little legs determinedly pushed along more and more technical routes at faster speeds. On local Wild Iris Trail and Fourth of July races, I wheezed and panted steps behind her, 35 years her junior, and listened as she carried on casual conversations about horses and dogs and diesel trucks. Her work ethic was strong. While diligently poring over rations menus for hundreds of courses, Claudia simultaneously entertained old and new friends who endlessly stopped by to chat with her under the pushpin boards of photos hanging in the “Gulch” that depicted her forty years in the
Lander Valley and the NOLS community. Claudia wrote and edited the NOLS Cookery since the fourth edition, published in 1997. NOLS is currently using the seventh edition and all of Claudia’s versions in between. While the number of Cookeries published and circulating in the world is unclear, it’s estimated at least 15,000 copies have been sold. Her influence continues to be felt through that outdoor cooking bible, and by all the NOLS students she inspired to make tasty and nutritious meals from a bag of noodles, some dried milk, and an extensive spice kit. While most at NOLS knew Claudia for her food and nutrition expertise, others in the Lander community knew her as a formidable horsewoman. For years, she and I rode horses in the mountains as she told me endless stories of the “western times” she’d had—the good and the bad. We also spent time critiquing each other’s riding, not always liking it, but laughing just the same. As a horse trainer of considerable finesse, Claudia approached her horses with the same qualities as she did her work, her community, and her friendships: with compassion, unrelenting drive, and a phenomenal sense of humor. So long, Claudia, my friend, mentor, and the Thelma to my Louise. You are missed. Meredith Hardwick is a graduate of a NOLS Wind River Mountaineering course and worked at NOLS headquarters. She lives in Teton Valley, Wydaho, and works as a wilderness horsepacker and guide.
Claudia at her retirement party, May 2019. Anne McGowan
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