Brynhild "Bee" Grasmoen (January 7, 1929 – December 30, 2000) was an American

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

. She competed in two events at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

Early life and education

Grasmoen was born in

Merced, California Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on Apri ...

, the daughter of Arnold Joselin Grasmoen and Ione Julia Cunningham Grasmoen. Her father was a banker and an

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

officer during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She attended Hobbs High School in New Mexico, and graduated from Merced High School in 1946. She graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1953.

Career

She won the Butler Cup at Badger Pass in 1941, at the age of 12, and the New Mexico State women's skiing championship in 1943, when she was 14. In 1946, an age minimum was changed to allow her to qualify as a Class B Skier in the Far Western Ski Association. Grasmoen competed in two alpine skiing events at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She won the Gold Sun Run at Sun Valley in 1949. She was crowned queen of the Nevada Winter Carnival in 1952. Grasmoen's athletic career ended when she was badly injured in a car accident near

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

. Later in life she was active in women's club activities, and painted oils and watercolors.

Personal life and legacy

Grasmoen married twice. She married Arthur Murray Robinson in 1950. In 1957, she married physicist Kent Dedrick. She lived with her parents from the late 1950s into the 1990s. She died in 2000, at the age of 71, in Merced. Her will left several large donations to local charities, including $200,000 each to the Merced County Arts Council, the Merced College Foundation, the Merced County Historical Society, the Merced Center for the Performing Arts, and the Arden Wood Benevolent Association of San Francisco.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasmoen, Brynhild 1929 births 2000 deaths American female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for the United States Alpine skiers at the 1948 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Merced, California People from Merced, California Stanford University alumni 20th-century American sportswomen