The George and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation has given the Wood River Community YMCA $1 million for the Bill Janss Aquatic Center—awarded in memory of Bill Janss, former owner of Sun Valley Resort.
"We are thrilled to be able to partner with the many friends of Bill and Glenn Janss in establishing this wonderful new aquatics center," Eccles Foundation President Spencer F. Eccles, a longtime family friend and business associate of Bill Janss and his family, said in a news release. "Bill and my uncle, George Eccles, were close friends from the earliest days of Sun Valley, and I have had the distinct privilege in my life of sharing, and working toward, a common vision with Bill Janss of the evolution of Sun Valley into the 'grand dame' of year-round family resorts."
The Bill Janss Aquatic Center is slated to open in fall 2007. It will include two pools: a warm-water recreation pool for parent/child swim classes, therapy, and other programs, and a cool-water lap pool for swim lessons, aqua aerobics, lap swimming, water polo and SCUBA.
"This generous gift from the Eccles Foundation will help us realize the YMCA's dream of creating a year-round swim complex that is open to—and affordable for—area residents from all socioeconomic backgrounds," said Teresa Lipman, executive director of the Wood River Community YMCA.
The interest of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation in the Wood River Valley and Blaine County dates back to the 1880s, when Spence Eccles' grandfather, David Eccles, established a sawmill in Gray's Gulch, near Hailey.
By the time Bill Janss and his brother, Ed, received financing from First Security for the purchase of Sun Valley from Union Pacific, Spence Eccles was senior vice president supervising the bank's Southwest Division in Idaho, including Hailey and Ketchum.
Bill Janss invited Eccles to serve on the Sun Valley board of directors, which he did for nine years. Eccles recently retired from Union Pacific's board of directors.
"Our foundation appreciates the opportunity to help create this new aquatic facility bearing Bill Janss' name," Eccles said. "We know it will be a great asset for the whole Wood River Valley, helping to carry on Bill's legacy of sharing in this community and area, benefiting both children and adults for many years to come."
Photo courtesy Wood River Community YMCA
Spencer Eccles and Glenn Janss hold a check for $1 million for recipient Wood River Community YMCA. The George and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation is giving the money to the YMCA for the Bill Janss Aquatic Center, in memory of Bill Janss.
