Williams, Kim, 1923-1986

Kim Williams was born Elizabeth Ardea Kandiko on September 21, 1923, in Hudson, New York, to Hungarian immigrant parents. Kim was the fourth of seven children (six girls and one boy), and grew up on a farm in Gallatin Township, New York. She graduated from Hudson High School in 1940, then attended Cornell University where she received a degree in human ecology--home economics, food, and nutrition--with a minor in botany, in 1944. After graduation she worked for a variety of publications, including a stint as a copy girl for the Los Angeles Examiner, and in New York at Flower Grower magazine. She also wrote poetry and about personal experiences.

She met and married Mel Williams in 1951. His career as a mining engineer took them to Santiago, Chile, where they lived for 20 years. While in Chile, Kim wrote numerous poems, plays, short stories, wrote a newspaper column, taught English at the Catholic University of Chile, and wrote and published two books: High Heels in the Andes and Wild Animals of Chile .

After Mel's retirement in 1971, they returned to his native state of Montana and settled in Missoula. An ardent convert of the women's movement, Kim returned to school and received her Master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Montana in 1981. A Radio/TV class project evolved into a local radio show on plants. This, in turn, led to a ten-and-a-half year career as a commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" giving folksy advice and observations on herbs. She was the longest running guest commentator on NPR.

While in Missoula, she published two more books, Eating Wild Plants and Kim Williams' Book of Uncommon Sense: A Practical Guide With 10 Rules for Nearly Everything . She was an occasional instructor at the University of Montana, taught classes on edible wild plants, gave wild flower tours, and wrote a newspaper column for the Missoulian . Beneath her folksy humor was a message of greater importance, "I'm very serious about the fact we have to change our way of, living in order to live a more gentle way with the earth," she said. Kim was elected to serve on the 1974 City Government Study Commission, and ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Montana House of Representatives in 1978.

After refusing any extraordinary measures to prolong her life, Kim Williams died of cancer on August 6, 1986. Her death was mourned nationwide, with commentaries in Time Magazine, the New Yorker, and numerous newspapers. The Kim Williams Trail along the Clark Fork River in Missoula, was named for her in 1987, and the Kim Williams Graduate Fellowship was begun to fund journalism students at The University of Montana.

From the guide to the Kim Williams Papers, 1940-1986, (Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)