WILL HANNUM BORROW, JR.

1908 - 1964

The Northwest lost one of its devoted mountain men by a coronary on September 3, 1964 in the meadows of the mountains he loved. Born June 17, 1908 in Seattle, Washington, “Jim”, as we all knew him, made Seattle his home for life. In his early youth he was one of the strongest swimmers on the Pacific coast and an accomplished diver. He was the first person to swim the length of Lake Washington and, when people doubted the word of a friend who accompanied him, he did it again to prove it. But by the time he reached college age, the mountains weaned him away from swimming.

Jim was a perfectionist in everything he did and drove himself to the limit in work as well as recreation. He worked his entire adult life for what is now the Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company and on the occasions when advancements would have taken him away from his mountains, they were turned down without hesitation. Despite his intense seriousness, he had a wonderful sense of humor and when the going got rough, he particularly liked the expression, “Never around, always over or through.” There is no better way to describe Jim. Yet, he enjoyed all kinds of mountain travel from the easiest to the hardest and was just as satisfied to take the Boy Scouts on a hiking trip as to make a first ascent. No one will ever know how many mountains he climbed or how many first ascents he made for he did not believe in recording them or denying others who followed the satisfaction they might derive in reaching an unspoiled summit. His only first ascent on record is Liberty Ridge on Mount Rainier, and that because climbs to the summit of the mountain have to be registered. An almost unknown ability of Jim s was mountain photography and copies were always available on request, but never for sale.

There was nothing Jim would not do to help others, no matter how trivial or great, regardless of how well he knew them, or how inconvenient it might be at the time. Before his position in business precluded such activity, he was always available for rescue work. When skiing began to take hold in the west, he was one of the early advocates and one of the organizers and charter members of the Penguin Ski Club. Shortly after the United States entry into World War II, Jim enlisted in the mountain troops, saw service in Italy with Headquarters Company, 10th Mountain Division, and was discharged as a captain at the end of the war. After the war, what time he had for climbing, hiking, and skiing was generally reserved for his growing family and the neighborhood Boy Scout troop. He became a member of the American Alpine Club in 1944 and was a past chairman of the Cascade Section.

He is survived by his wife Lucile, two sons, two daughters, and a grandchild.

Ezra A. Campbell