Three honored for contributions with induction to Hall of Fame

Family, friends and ski lovers crowded into the Ski Heritage Center Museum of Skiing Friday evening to honor three women who left their mark on Big Mountain.

Sandi Unger, Giselle “Jessie” Harring and Stacey Bengtson were inducted into the Ski Heritage Center Hall of Fame, joining the 16 previous inductees.

Hilary Lindh, a world champion downhill skier and Olympic silver medalist, spoke before each inductee was honored, noting the way skiing history is passed along by the community and how prevalent that is in Whitefish.

“This is exactly the type of gathering that I love about the skiing community, and I love the connections between generations and I love being able to see the history of Big Mountain on display here,” she said. “It’s really the people who carry the history with them, and to me that’s always what’s been so special about skiing.”

Sandi Unger was born and raised in Whitefish and graduated from Whitefish High School in 1959. She worked in a variety of positions on Big Mountain for the next 45 years.

Known as the resort’s problem solver, Unger served as administrative assistant to the resort managers, including co-founder and long-time general manager Ed Schenck, and also served as administrative secretary to the Winter Sports Inc. Board of Directors. Unger passed away in 2010.

Dale Duff spoke on the many roles Unger performed in her time.

“Little Miss Sandi was really quite a gal,” Duff recalled emotionally. “She did a number of jobs up on the Big Mountain. She had a talent in accounting, and she had a talent in clerical, but I think most of all she had a talent in helping.”

“Little Miss Sandi helped make the Big Mountain what it is,” he said.

Giselle “Jessie” Harring was born in Budapest, Hungary, and during World War II she lived as a prisoner of Hitler’s regime. After the war she returned to college in Budapest to finish her lab technician degree. She immigrated, alone, to Canada in 1949.

After marrying Don Harring, an avid skier, the two moved to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in 1953. In 1971 they moved to Whitefish.

Tim Hinderman, Flathead Valley Ski Education Foundation Executive Director, pointed to Harring’s resilience early on in life as a unique trait that kept her going even in the toughest of times.

“Jessie had lived, suffered and experienced a lifetime once over before the end of World War II. Then she went to Canada, and then Wisconsin and then started life No. 2,” he said. “About that time we’d have all been tired, and Jessie was just getting started.”

Harring’s passion for volunteering led her to the Soroptimists, the Hospital Guild and the U.S. Forest Service as their representative on Big Mountain. She also became a life-long member of the Big Mountain Ski Club where she ascended to “Lady on the Board” posting ski race results for over 30 years.

Harring continued to work the scoreboard at Big Mountain races through 2005. She enjoyed skiing Big Mountain “for free” through her 84th year.

Harring, who still resides in Whitefish, was in attendance on Friday with family.

Stacey Bengtson, a St. Paul, Minnesota, native, is responsible for teaching more than a few skiers on Big Mountain.

Bengtson picked up skiing on a family trip to Mt. Telemark, Wisconsin, and discovered Big Mountain during a high school trip on the Great Northern Railroad.

She got a job in the ski school in 1973 and she’s been teaching students since.

Bake Baker, who comes from St. Paul, Minnesota like Bengston and whose children learned to ski under her tutelage, introduced Bengtson.

“Stacey is an amazing person,” he said. “And also Stacey, as everybody knows, is really an incredibly talented ski instructor. Stacey taught both of our children to ski, to love the mountains, to love the snow, and actually to ski very, very fast, fortunately or unfortunately.”

Bengtson said it was humbling to be in the company of Unger, Harring and all the other past inductees to the Hall of Fame.

“It is an honor, it truly is, to be an inductee, and especially with Jessie and with Sandi. I loved my job, I still love it, I’ve had some wonderful customers,” she said. “To be honored like this is amazing, and to be appreciated — when you know when people appreciate you, you just keep going, because it makes such a difference, and the mountain has done that for me.”