A LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY LADIES
Spanning the generations, women have planted themselves here among the cactus and pine. They’ve forged unconventional paths west — hunting and harvesting stories worth remembering. Today, they are still heeding the call of their heritage, bravely shedding all that is frivolous as they head deeper into the backcountry. They pursue that which will outlive them, in faithful stewardship of the tender shoots of conservation.
This league of extraordinary women have been tested and tried in the high lonesome; blooming amidst the rugged terrain with tenacity and grace that has changed the landscape on which they reside. They are too many to name — those women who have led the way — but each month we aim to share their stories. These are Women of the West.
KATHY HADLEY
MONTANA
Four miles upstream from Niagara Falls, in western New York, Grand Island rests in the middle of the Niagara River. Established after World War II, it became a place where families were large and neighbors were friends; this was the backdrop for Kathy Hadley’s upbringing.
“I was really lucky to be born when kids spent most of their time outside,” said Kathy, who was one of six children born to a steel-mill-working father, and a mother who was a homemaker. “I grew up spending time after school and on weekends along the river: swimming, fishing, exploring the woods, and collecting snakes and frogs. I think growing up this way allows you to develop a natural, lifelong quest to be outside as much as you can, and it certainly has stuck with me.”
Her continued love of the outdoors is what brought Kathy west. She married a professor at the University of Buffalo, Wayne, who was a hunter and
