Blaine County’s oldest native resident dies
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Blaine County’s roots thinned a little last week.
A Hailey woman, who was Blaine County’s oldest living native, died
last Wednesday at Blaine Manor of old age.
Mary Outzs, 99, was born on July 18, 1900, in Hailey, where she lived most
of her life.
According to her daughter, Dorothy Ann Outzs, who lives in Hailey, Mary
Outzs was cheerful, friendly and involved right through her last years.
And she was "Irish through and through," Dorothy Ann Outzs said.
In fact, Dorothy Ann Outzs and her two daughters, Jennifer and Hailey,
spent St. Patrick’s Day with Mary Outzs, less than a week before she died.
Mary Outzs’ parents, Michael and Annie Welch, moved to the Wood River
Valley from Newburyport, Mass., in the late 1800s, a time when miners ladled silver and
lead ores from surrounding mountains.
Outzs was the youngest of 11 children and was one of four seniors to
graduate from Hailey High School in 1918.
When her father died in a mining accident, Outzs supported her mother and
herself by working at Idaho’s first telephone switchboard during her senior year.
She married Les Outzs in 1920 following a stint at business college in
Tacoma, Wash.
According to her obituary, the couple enjoyed winters ice skating, dogsled
racing on main street and skiing in Quigley Canyon.
After Les Outzs retired as county sheriff, the couple spent time working
with a group of citizens to create the Blaine County Historical Museum.
Les Outzs died in 1974.
Mary Outzs was the sole survivor of her large, Irish nuclear family. She
is survived by her daughter and granddaughters.
