An inspirational story posted this morning by Patrick Finley of the Arizona Daily Star (http://bit.ly/qJ0Mfv). Enjoy!
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She made the looping L in her first name a little more pronounced, cleaner than the way she'd ever signed her name before.
At 93 years old, Lenore Groundwater was giving her first-ever autograph, near her photo in an Alaska newspaper, the day after her big win.
"I figured if anyone's going to want my signature," she said, "I better make it clear."
How's this for a fish story?
Groundwater, who lives in Green Valley, was named the Queen of the Silver Salmon Sisterhood on Aug. 13.By catching a 16.58-pound silver salmon, the legally blind great-grandmother defeated almost 800 competitors in the Valdez (Alaska) Women's Silver Salmon Derby.
The one-day event netted her $1,000, a diamond tiara, a bathrobe, two turquoise vests, sunglasses, magazine subscriptions and about 20 other prizes.
And she'd never won anything larger than a $2 lottery ticket.
Maybe it was the day: Her daughter was born on a Friday the 13th, and a granddaughter also was born on the 13th day of a month.
Or perhaps the place: These days, she fishes only when she visits family in Valdez, the town of 5,000 or so in south central Alaska where the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline System ends.
Or maybe it was her name, right out of central casting: Lenore Groundwater.
A genealogist once told her the name came from a Scottish legend. A storm washed up a man on an island shore. He was half-buried in water, half in mud, and spoke a foreign tongue. The locals named him Groundwater.
She credited luck for the catch. It's the same reason, she said, she's lived so long. Her mother died at 92, her father in his 80s.
Last month, her son, Lance, piloted his small sport fishing boat to the spot, opposite Jack Bay and Potato Point. Locals call that part of the water "in the narrows."
She was sitting with her fishing pole in her hand - "My son thinks that if I stand up to fish, it'll take me and the reel," she said - when she felt a tug on the herring bait.
"It's luck," she said, "that this big fish happened to be hungry."
Her son helped net the fish into the boat and put it into a cooler. They took the boat to shore early, to avoid standing in line.
Groundwater was named the winner at the awards ceremony afterward.
"I was scared," she said. "How often do you stand up in front of that many people?"
Her problem blood pressure, she joked, only went higher.
She celebrated in Alaska with a brunch - guests wore paper tiaras - and a glass of Asti Spumante a few days later.
Her name and photo have gone global.
Since she returned to Green Valley last week, Groundwater has been flooded with phone calls.
Field & Stream suggested she could be the Betty White of fishing.
Her late husband, Lyle, with whom she fished for years in the Pacific Northwest before retiring to Southern Arizona, would have loved it.
"He would have fallen overboard," she said. "He would have been delighted."
The winning salmon will arrive, filleted, in the next week or two. She'll poach it, with lemon.
But it gets better. Much better.
Groundwater learned Sunday that her fish finished second overall in the Valdez Silver Salmon Derby, an event open to all anglers. The event started July 23 and ended around noon Sunday.
Her family saw the final results before the annual "Spawn 'Til Dawn" party, and called her with the good news.
She won $5,000, which she'll split among her six grandkids and two infant great-grandchildren, simply for placing second.
Her catch has already made an impact, said her daughter-in-law Paula Groundwater, winner of the 2006 women's derby.
"It gives women just such a wonderful sense, knowing that your life can be rich and full all the days of your life," she said. "Ninety-three and fishing is a remarkable thing.
"We all just go, 'I want that to be me when I'm 93.' "
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