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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cross-country walk inspires women

From left, Angelina Raber, Barb Brock, Courtney Schively, Jaclyn Jacot and Lesslie Schrader walk south on Highway 27 past Freeman on Friday en route to the gravesite of Helga Estby in Rockford, Wash. 
 (Brian Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

A few students from Jaclyn Jacot’s adult basic education class were so inspired by the book “Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America” that they decided to re-trace the beginning of Estby’s long journey.

The group left Spokane on Friday morning bound for Rockford, where Estby’s parents originally lived, and the Mica Creek Cemetery, where she is buried.

“Bold Spirit,” written by Whitworth University professor Linda Lawrence Hunt, tells the story of how Estby and her daughter Clara walked from Spokane to New York City trying to win $10,000. The year was 1896, and the money was desperately needed to save the farm. But when the two women made it to New York City no one was willing to pay them.

“They didn’t even give them money to get back home,” said student Courtney Shively, 19, who just received her GED. Shively and fellow GED graduate Lesslie Schrader, 22, came up with the idea for the class to re-create part of Estby’s walk.

“These students are all moms, and it resonated with them that Helga was willing to do something like that, to try and save her family,” said Jacot, while the group stopped for lunch in the shade of the Freeman grain elevator. She teaches the class through the Institute for Extended Learning in Spokane Valley.

A plan took shape.

“I go by the road to Helga’s gravesite every day on my way to work,” said Jacot, who lives in Rockford.

“Walking to her grave seemed doable. It’s 16 miles.”

The group began preparing for the walk by following a training schedule for a half-marathon Jacot found online.

Barb Brock, an Eastern Washington University professor of recreational management, walked along, too.

“We talk about all sorts of things as we walk,” said Brock. “These girls all finished their GEDs, they have big dreams. We talk about how to get to the next step.”

Angelina Raber, 30, said the students figured out $10,000 in 1896 is the equivalent of $200,000 today.

“I’d walk to New York for that,” said Shively. “Hey, I’d probably run.”

Estby walked on train tracks but this group stuck to Highway 27.

Is this going to turn into an annual event?

Said Jacot, “I guess if I get another class that’s as much into the book as this one is, then I’d do it again.”