Remembering Lady June Hillary

“I’m so glad I had the opportunity to spend time with Lady June. She had a great attitude toward life and all its joys and sorrow. She definitely lived a life.”

— Harriet Lewis, Chair, Grand Circle Foundation

We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of Lady June Hillary, wife of the late Sir Edmund Hillary, and beloved friend of the Lewis family. After her husband’s passing, Lady June succeeded him and also served as an Honorary Director of Grand Circle Foundation. As Harriet Lewis remembers, “Lady June was married to a dynamic man who was very famous, but she was exemplary and a great role model in her own right. I am honored to have been able to be in her presence.”

Lady June’s first husband was well-known mountaineer Peter Mulgrew, to whom she was married for 28 years. In 1956, Peter embarked on an 18-month expedition to the South Pole with Sir Edmund Hillary, who had become the first person to summit Mount Everest (with Tenzing Norgay) three years earlier. The two New Zealanders became fast friends.

Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on his ascent of Everest, would inspire a lifelong commitment to the Nepalese people.

His expedition to the "roof of the world" had given Sir Edmund a deep respect and affection for the Sherpa people of Nepal, who had helped him make his successful ascent. It has also implanted a strong desire to improve the harsh conditions under which the Sherpas lived. Living at a high altitude with limited resources, these people lacked many of the basics, such as educational and medical facilities.

In the early 1960s, Sir Edmund returned to Nepal to ask what he could do to improve lives. He discovered a need for education in that country, where fewer than half the adults can read, and he began raising money to build a school for the children of Khumjung—the village home of the Sherpas who had assisted him in 1953.

In 1962, he formalized his efforts on behalf of the people of Nepal by founding the Himalayan Trust. The Trust was created to provide an infrastructure to meet the Sherpas' basic needs—education, health care, forestry, monastery repairs, and response to natural disasters. Lady June, with Peter, was active in the Trust from the beginning. “Not a lot of people cared about Nepal back then,” says Harriet. “It wasn’t like now, with the mess created by greed around Everest. Lady June really understood the Nepalese, and how difficult it was for them to make a living.”

The Hillarys and the Mulgrews did more than fundraising and organizational work for the Trust. They rolled up their sleeves and pitched in, painting, varnishing, and doing whatever task was needed.

Overcoming tragedy—together

As rewarding as their work for the Trust was, tragedy loomed for both Sir Edmund and June Mulgrew. In 1975, Sir Edmund's wife, Louise Rose, and youngest daughter, Belinda, were killed in a plane crash en route to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. The loss devastated Sir Edmund, who fell into a deep depression that lasted several years.

Just four years later, in 1979, Peter Mulgrew was the commentator on an Antarctic sightseeing flight—a job that rotated between Sir Edmund and him—when the plane flew into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 passengers aboard.

After the tragedies, Sir Edmund Hillary and June Mulgrew remained friends, and Lady June was credited with bringing Sir Edmund out of his depression. Still, it would be many years before friendship deepened into romance. In 1985, then Prime Minister, David Lange, appointed Sir Edmund New Zealand's envoy to India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. June Mulgrew accompanied him as Official Companion. Four years later, they were married.

The two were happily married for nearly 19 years, until Sir Edmund's death in January 2008. “She was a very big part of that relationship,” says Harriet. “He always brought her into conversations.”

After Sir Edmund's passing, Lady June herself continued on as chair of the Himalayan Trust, which, over its 60-year history, has funded more than 40 schools, two hospitals, 30 health clinics, and two airfields. It has also provided grants for higher education, helped rebuild isolated communities, and helped the Sherpa people overcome the hardships of their mountainous environment.

A strong “Foundation” for friendship

During the Hillarys’ visits to Boston, they shared invaluable wisdom with Alan and Harriet, as well as their dreams for the Nepalese people.

Among the long-time supporters of the Himalayan Trust is Grand Circle Foundation. In 1992, Alan and Harriet asked Sir Edmund how they could help in Nepal. His response was swift and definite: help us teach the teachers. Literacy in Nepal was just 26 percent at the time, so hope for the future was pinned to improving education. A grant from Grand Circle Foundation to the Trust helped provide the teacher training Sir Edmund had requested.

In the years that followed, friendship grew between the Lewises and the Hillarys. Lady June and Sir Edmund were even guests at Grand Circle headquarters during several visits to Boston. “Both Sir Edmund and Lady June spoke at an event we held, and Alan and I spoke, too,” says Harriet. “There was a great connection between the four of us.”

When Harriet reached out to Lady June to ask permission to honor Sir Edmund by creating the Sir Edmund Hillary Club in his name, her response was swift and enthusiastic. But even though the club bears his name, as Harriet says, “it was also very much about her.”

A school built by the Himalayan Trust amidst the rugged landscape of Nepal.

One thing that always impressed Harriet about both Lady June and Sir Edmund was their humility. “They didn’t make a lot of noise about what they were doing,” she says, “but they did such amazing things for Nepal.” The faith she and Alan had in the Hillarys’ core values and mission made it easy to support the cause closest to Lady June’s heart: the Himalayan Trust.

During one visit to Boston, Lady June and Harriet were strolling the waterfront promenade along the Fort Point Channel when Lady June asked her friend for a donation to the Trust. "I just remembered saying, ‘How much do you need?’,” says Harriet. “Lady June asked for $50,000, and then added, ‘Please.’ Without thinking twice, I just said, ‘okay!’”

Grand Circle Foundation has since made several donations to the Himalayan Trust, bringing its total contribution to more than $800,000. In the wake of the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal, Foundation grants helped rebuild schools, toilets, and pipelines accessing clean water.

In tribute to her friends, Lady June penned the Foreword to the Lewises' inspirational 2010 memoir, Driving With No Brakes. In it, she honored the friendship between the Lewises and the Hillarys and expresses her gratitude for their long-time support for the Trust. She wrote, “I feel that the philosophy that Grand Circle Foundation follows is similar to my husband’s. A philosophy of asking what is wanted, a wish list even, and working with local people to do it—build a school, fix a path, replace a roof, subsidize a teacher, or pay a doctor and most importantly, to follow up over the years with interest in the work. When the project is complete, then it belongs to the community. A very satisfying and effective way to go.”

That gratitude, certainly, was mutual—as Alan and Harriet learned that very philosophy from the Hillarys themselves. “Lady June was so inspirational and influential in my life,” says Harriet. “She was very well-spoken, funny, and easy to talk to—but she was also very tough. The world needs more great ladies like her.”

Visit a school supported by Grand Circle Foundation and meet the famously welcoming Nepalese people during Nepal & the Mystical Himalayas.