The Women Who Rowed
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The Women Who Rowed
Ellen Tibbetts, Jan Kempster, Elena Kirschner, Denice Napoletano and Mary Williams greeted each other with hugs in front of the OARS Grand Canyon headquarters in Flagstaff. One by one, they walked into the building through the teal door frame and past the photo-plastered walls. A mosaic of photo prints, many of these same women, decorate the space, images of them smiling in the sand, cooking on small stoves on indistinct beaches, and rowing. Rowing the hard-hulled dories that are famous on the Colorado River.
“It’s getting pretty faded,” said Ellen Tibbetts, pointing to a portrait of herself, shot over four decades earlier. “That was the cover of Mariah Magazine.”
These five women represent the first two generations of women to grab hold of the oars on commercial dory trips for Grand Canyon Dories. Many of them worked their way up from being river trip cooks, earning their guide spots with talent, a deep knowledge of the river and a perseverance that wasn’t always required of their male counterparts.
This group came together to visit, share memories from years on the river and to celebrate life-long friendships that were cemented by a shared love for the curved wood (and now fiberglass and foam) dories that gracefully traverse the Colorado River.
“Dories are so special,” said Tibbetts. “To be able to row a dory and get it through the Canyon in one piece is really a huge accomplishment every time you do it. Not just the ...continue reading at oars.com