Third in a series of four: The Legacy of Ladies
Alba Burton Arndt has a lot to be thankful for, and she'll be the first to say so.
Arndt, who celebrated her 96th birthday on June 4 with her friends and family, still lives in the downtown Hailey home she and her late husband bought in 1950 for a mere $4,800. Arndt was recently named as one of the ladies of the Blaine County Museum's Heritage Court for 2006.
She was nominated to the court by the Souper Supper of Hailey, where she dines with friends several times a week.
A librarian for 10 years and a teacher in Hailey and other Blaine County schools for 20 years, Arndt has been active in Hailey life since moving to the Wood River Valley.
A smile lights up her face when she considers the reasons she's been able to continue living in her beloved home to this very day.
"I think the reason I'm living alone at 96 is because I have friends who do things to make it easy," Arndt said. "If it wasn't for the help I have, I couldn't live alone."
Arndt and her husband, Chester, moved to Hailey in 1946. The couple was married in 1936 and spent 56 happy years together before Chester died in 1992 at the age of 87.
The Arndts raised one son, Henry, who at a young age declared he wanted to study chemistry. He would go on to do that—earning a Ph.D. in organic chemistry—and much more.
A proud Arndt said her son is now a research chemist in the diagnostic division of the Bayer Corp. in Elkhart, Ind.
In the 60 years she's lived in Hailey Arndt has watched the Wood River Valley go through a lot of changes, most particularly in the last 15 to 20 years.
"You can't believe it," she said.
When she and her husband first moved to Hailey, large tracts of open, undeveloped land separated the cities of the Wood River Valley. In the ensuing years, however, those open areas have become much scarcer.
"So many homes have been built," she said.
In Hailey, the city limits have flowed steadily outward from the older, traditional neighborhood grid pattern in what is now called Old Hailey, she said.
"Hailey was just this much for so long," Arndt said, referring to Old Hailey.
But Arndt isn't one to bemoan the changes. "I accept the change because it's necessary," she said.
Through all the change the Arndts remained in their two-story, Third Street home. It's a house Arndt is still proud to call home. Only two families have lived in the place since William Bailey built it in 1898, she proudly pointed out.
The changes didn't entirely pass the couple's home by, either. Arndt's husband, a builder by trade, was quite handy and completed a number of interior and exterior projects over the years. They included the installation of brick siding and a tile patio in the backyard, as well as the addition of new front and back entries.
"He was able to do a lot of the building here," Arndt said. "Cupboards and things like that."
Arndt's home is a proud testament to Hailey's past. "It was really built to last," she said.
She is still firm in her desire to hold on to her house, which is located on four spacious lots. "It's not for sale," she said.
Still, Arndt admits that the home she and her husband bought in 1950, with a mere $800 down payment, has become an incredible investment, far beyond what they ever anticipated.
"It's Old Hailey," she said. "It's desirable, of course."
Advancing age and a resulting decline in her eyesight and hearing has meant the loss of some of the things Arndt most loved in her younger years.
It should come as no surprise that as a librarian for so many years Arndt was also a voracious reader of books of all kinds. "All my life," she said.
To her disappointment, declining eyesight has taken away her ability to read on her own. "It was hard to not read a book," she said.
But once again, those around her have stepped in and allow her to continue enjoying her passions. Every Thursday a friend of Arndt's arrives to read her the newspaper.
Arndt also enjoyed playing the piano and the organ at many civic and school activities but doesn't play anymore because of her ailing ears. "Music doesn't sound quite the same," she said.
Arndt isn't one to complain, however, and points out the things she still loves to do.
A love of sports, baseball in particular, and her favorite team, the Seattle Mariners, is another of Arndt's lifelong passions. "All my life," she said. "My father was a sports fan."
Arndt still likes to sit down to watch baseball with her Mariners hat on and a cold rootbeer float in her hand.
Change is an inevitable part of life, she pointed out.
In one of her favorite books—"The Thorn Birds" by Colleen McCullough, written in 1977—Arndt likes a passage where a mother is speaking to her son about change.
"You must accept change. You will be a better man," the mother says to her son in the book.
The quote rings true for Arndt.
"Otherwise you'll make yourself miserable," she said. "That's been a quote for me ever since."
Heritage Court
The Blaine County Museum's Heritage Court, consisting of women who are honored annually as having influenced their communities, will be crowned in a pageant at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey, from 3 to 5 p.m., Sunday, June 25. The pageant is free and includes entertainment by Footlight Dance Centre and a barbershop quartet from Twin Falls called Give and Take. They are riding in the Days of the Old West Parade, on the Fourth of July in Hailey, The Bellevue Labor Day Parade, and the Ketchum Wagon Days Parade.
Hailey resident Alba Arndt was recently named as one of the ladies of the Blaine County Museum?s Heritage Court for 2006. Arndt still lives in the same house she and her husband, Chester Arndt, purchased in 1950. Photo by Willy Cook
