Idaho Wrestles with Ernest Hemingway’s Memory

Idaho has always attracted the famous and infamous.  Wyatt Earp called Wallace home until his gambling debts caught up with his lifestyle.  Then he vamoosed!  Henry Winkler likes fishing here.  Payton Manning enjoys duck hunting.  Adam West wanted to raise his kids away from Hollywood.  But perhaps the biggest name to ever come through the state was the novelist Ernest Hemingway, who died at his home by his own hand.

Hemingway was a Man Who Loved the Heartland

Unlike many of the modern rich and powerful who have homes or vacation here, the writer was a flag-waving patriot.  He did have a good relationship with Fidel Castro, but it was more about their mutual interests.  They liked sports, hunting, and especially fishing.  Hemingway was an avid outdoorsman, and I’ve been past some of the fields where he spent his time bird hunting with friends.  One was actor Gary Cooper, another conservative celebrity who found Idaho an escape from city life (he had been born on a ranch in Montana).

His Ghost is Strong in Idaho

What I find amazing is that 65 years after his death, Hemingway remains a part of the culture in the state’s central highlands.  You can walk into a fishing store in Picabo, and find a small museum in his memory.  Most of the people who personally knew him are gone, but he casts a long shadow over life here.

I’m always struck by his modest gravesite in Ketchum and how people from all over the world still stop and pay their respects.