Trivia

Graduated from Bishop High School in Bishop, California in 1953.

While trying out for the U.S. Olympic Ski Team on January 25, 1955 in Alta, Utah, she hit a tree, which left her a C-5/6 quadriplegic, leaving her paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Graduated from UCLA with a degree in German.

Taught Special Education in Bishop Union Elementary School from 1975 until her retirement in 1996.

At 18 years old, she won the United States National Women's Slalom Championship and was expected to represent the United States at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy. Due to sliding off an icy bump at the high speed during a giant slalom race in Alta, Utah, she severely damaged her spinal cord and left her largely paralyzed from the neck down.

She moved with her family as a child to Bishop, California (in the Eastern Sierra region of California) where she began to ski at 12 years old.

After her accident, she studied at the University of California in Los Angeles and taught at schools in Seattle, Washington and in Beverly Hills, California before returning to Bishop, California to continue her teaching career in 1975. A public high school in Bishop, California is named in her honor.

She died at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada.

Inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in 1967.

Older sister of Jerry Kinmont.