Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994                   TAG: 9402180103
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SUN VALLEY, IDAHO                                LENGTH: Short

SKIER WHO WON 1ST U.S. GOLD DIES

A spokeswoman for the Sun Valley Co., said Fraser died at Wood River Medical Center after being hospitalized late Wednesday.

"She was cross-country skiing with a friend just a week ago," Shannon Besoyan said.

Fraser won the gold medal at the 1948 Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in what is known today as the giant slalom. She also took the silver medal in the combined slalom and downhill.

She had lived in Sun Valley with her husband, Don Fraser, who was a member of the U.S. Alpine team in 1936 and won a gold medal at the Pan-Am Games in Chile that year. Don Fraser, who worked for the Sun Valley Co. before forming his own business, died 13 months ago. He was 80.

Gretchen Fraser was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall Of Fame in 1960.

- Associated Press