Broken Hip Just Delays Travel Of Writer, 88

ROSEBURG, Ore. - Two months ago, Frances Hamerstrom was striding across an Amazon River mud flat in 107-degree heat.

Now the 88-year-old woman is nursing a broken hip at the Garden Valley Retirement Center.

Hamerstrom was gathering material for a book about the hunting habits of primitive people in the world's rain forests. She recalled having just crossed the mud flat with her jungle guide when she lost her footing and slid.

She was treated at a hospital in Iquitos, in northeastern Peru, then flew to Oregon to be near her daughter, wildlife artist Elva Paulson.

Hamerstrom has resigned herself to being a good sport about it all. Douglas County is pleasant enough, but it's not the upper Amazon River.

And that's where Hamerstrom hopes to go again sometime this year, despite the heat and mud.

"This particular accident could happen to anybody at any time," she said, with a hint of defensiveness. A pause was followed by a twitch of a smile: "I seem to thrive on this."

Certainly, her stories of a life shared with her husband and partner, Frederick Hamerstrom, call up an image of a woman going from one adventure to the next.

Frederick Hamerstrom died five years ago in a cabin on the North Umpqua River. He was 80. The Hamerstroms had been married 59 years.

"You have two stars in your life: One is your career, your profession. The other is the person you spend your life with," Hamerstrom said.

"Some people have one, some people have neither. I'm lucky; I had both."

The Hamerstroms studied under noted naturalist Aldo Leopold at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Frederick Hamerstrom probably was best-known for his efforts to save the prairie chicken in the Midwest. The couple also were touted for their work with birds of prey.

Frances Hamerstrom is the only woman to have earned a graduate degree under Leopold. And she's reportedly the only woman known to have shared a nest with a golden eagle.

Hamerstrom has written nearly a dozen books, most dealing with her wildlife and outdoor experiences. Her latest, "My Double Life: Memoirs of a Naturalist," tells the story of her life, from her Boston upbringing through her marriage and career.

Most of Hamerstrom's books carry a message.

"I sneak them in. I always sneak in a birth-control message," said Hamerstrom, who is outspoken about overpopulation.

Since her husband's death, Hamerstrom has spent each April through August at her central Wisconsin home.

Much of the rest of the time, she's elsewhere. Frederick Hamerstrom preferred Nordic climates such as Siberia and Lapland; his wife said she's now visiting "all the wet, hot places" where he wouldn't travel.

"She made a point of getting on with her life and not dwelling on the loss; it's been amazing," said Paulson, Hamerstrom's daughter.

"She's been to Africa, to Peru and to Europe several times since my father died. In Dubayy, next to Saudi Arabia, she went hawking with a sheik's chief falconer."

What Hamerstrom appears to do best is to adapt.

A nurse who cared for her at Douglas Community Hospital last month said Hamerstrom was enchanted to see warm grapes on her breakfast plate one morning.

"She's the kind of patient where everything is delightful to her, even when she's having the worst of times," Paula Linder said.

Her patient's tales of adventure started Linder thinking about her own lifelong dreams.

"She embodies the reality of people's dreams," Linder said.