Out In The Mountains : Feature - Women Honor Julie & Lollie

     Julie Williams and Lollie Winans are the reasons that I am involved in the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Women's Professional Group's "Women's Outdoor Memorial Gatherings 2005: Safe, Smart, and Sassy" on Memorial Day weekend this year. Begun in 1997, the event commemorates the lives of two young experiential educators who were brutally murdered in 1996 while backpacking together on the Appalachian Trail in the eastern U.S.
      I feel blessed to have known and worked with both Julie and Lollie. I remember canoeing with them the summer before they died. It was a beautiful sunny day on the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes and the three of us were opening a door to the natural world for six women and their young children who were participants on a day-trip offered by Woodswomen, Inc.
      I remember Lollie's strength as she handily lifted 75-pound canoes off the canoe trailer and Julie's easy rapport as we planned our teaching strategy. The three of us traded off teaching basic safety and technical skills – how to stay hydrated, how to balance while getting in and out of the canoes, how to hold the paddles and stroke them to move the canoes where we wanted to go. We even had miniature paddles for the six-year-olds in the group, and both Julie and Lollie excelled when teaching and playing with the children.
      My most vivid memory is during our lunch break at Cedar Lake. While I chatted with the women, Julie and Lollie made castles of sand with the kids. For the past nine years since their murders, I have often visualized the two of them there in the sunshine, laughing and playing and just being great role models in the out-of-doors.
      Julie Williams, 24, from Burlington, Vermont, and Lollie Winans, 26, from Unity, Maine, were skilled outdoors women – generous, caring women who made a difference to the people they encountered during their all-too-short lives. Julie had graduated summa cum laude in Geology from Carleton College in Minnesota, and Lollie was finishing a degree in Environmental Studies at Unity College in Maine.
      They were killed on Memorial Day weekend in 1996 at their campsite near the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. Their case is still unsolved. Darrel Rice was charged and the trial was scheduled. He had admitted to killing them and stated that he "hated women and gays." In fact, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in April 2002, that the federal hate crimes statute would be invoked for the first time for gays, because Julie and Lollie were lovers and were murdered on federal property. Consequentially, Rice would face the death penalty because of the higher punishment for hate crimes. But shortly before his scheduled trial in 2004, charges were dropped because new DNA evidence found in one hair at the campsite did not match. Rice is currently being held in prison on charges of abductions of other women in Shenandoah National Park and the nearby area.
      In 1997, the year following their murders, the AEE Women's Professional Group (WPG), led by Nina Roberts, Marti O'Keefe, Diane Bedell, Angel Russek, and others, held a major national event called "Take Back the Trails." Thousands of women and supportive men hiked on Memorial Day weekend in memory of Julie and Lollie, as well as for all women who have faced violence in the outdoors to any extent. Julie’s mom, Patsy Williams, and close family friends led a group along the section of the Bridle Trail where her daughter last hiked.
     This year, the WPG is again sponsoring memorial activities across the United States. We have changed the name to reflect our intention of making this an annual event that honors all women, especially those who have experienced violence in the outdoors. The idea is that women outdoor leaders everywhere will lead an outdoor activity of their choice and invite other women and supportive men to join them. The title for this year's Memorial Gathering is "Safe, Smart and Sassy," because our intention is to promote safety while celebrating life and womanhood, just as Lollie and Julie did.
      We are continually adding resources to our WPG webpage at www.aee.org/ and will include event coordinators as they are identified.
     To read other news articles about the case, see
www.fred.net/kathy/at/tragedy.html

Brenda Porter is a coordinator of WPG activities to honor Julie and Lollie.

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