A Neighbor and Fan Recalls Encounters with the Man
By Art Jensen

In 1955, when I was fifteen, I had my first encounter with Ernest Hemingway. I never met the man and saw him only twice, but both times left me with an impression that has lasted all these years.

At the time, I lived in Hailey, twelve miles south of Ketchum and thirteen miles from Sun Valley. My dad, who had been superintendent of the Triumph Mine in the 1940s, died when I was thirteen and my mother, Marjorie Jensen, supported us by teaching English and Spanish at Hailey High. I didn’t have a car of my own but luckily was allowed to drive Mom’s 1955 Mercury. Like most teenagers, I spent a lot of time driving around. Our “Main Street” ran from Hailey to Sun Valley and back. One day, my girlfriend, Nancy, and I were driving the mile between Ketchum and Sun Valley and saw Hemingway walking toward us on the path near the road coming the other way.