They’ve put their stamp on Utah over decades, weaving threads of economic impact, cultural influence, social change and compassion into our community tapestry. When we ski next to a double amputee, cheer at a Jazz game, enjoy cuisine prepared by a culinary-trained refugee, take in community theater, serve food at a homeless resource center, or see a 12-year-old sporting his very first pair of new shoes, there’s a good chance that Gail Miller, Lavanya Mahate, Celeste Edmunds or Meeche White were involved. Get to know these long-standing women of influence.
Meeche White
Co-Founder, National Ability Center
Meeche White has seen that look before–her life’s work has been in pursuit of that look. It’s when downturned eyes suddenly beam with hope and possibility. She’s seen it when an amputee soars down a powdery white mountain for the first time, or a nonverbal autistic child climbs onto a gentle, knowing horse.
“They go out, and they’re not the same person when they come back in,” says Meeche, who co-founded the National Ability Center (NAC) in Park City in 1985. “You can tell people, ‘You’re not defined by your disability,’ you can tell them, ‘you have so much to live for,’ but honestly, it’s not enough just to be told that. A person has to have an experience that leads to that belief.”
From small beginnings, the mission of NAC has remained steadfast: to empower people of all abilities through adaptive recreation. Just after college, Meeche, a Connecticut native, worked as a reading specialist for children with disabilities. However, it didn’t take long for her to realize that she wasn’t in the reading business at all. “I was in the business of building self-esteem,” she says. Having been in an abusive relationship at one point in her life, she recognized the signs of self-loathing.
“You don’t want to learn,” she says of that understanding. “You don’t want to grow, because you don’t see your own value. I’d lived that before.” She knew spending time outdoors was healing. “I just kept thinking, there’s got to be a better way to do this—if we could just get these kids outside and moving around…”
She learned about the emerging field of therapeutic recreation and enrolled in courses. Soon after, she got a job as an adaptive ski instructor and met her former husband, paralympic ski racer Pete Badewitz, a Vietnam veteran and amputee.
His positive outcomes with therapeutic recreation inspired both of them to pay it forward, and they traveled to the Rocky Mountains in search of the right space to create a haven for ski-based therapy.
“You can tell people, ‘you’re not defined by your disability,’ you can tell them, ‘you have so much to live for,’ but honestly, it’s not enough just to be told that. a person hase to have an experience that leads to that belief.”
Meeche and Pete had heard of Park City which, back in the ’80s was a sleepy little ski town with no traffic lights. “We drove in to see it and before I’d even looked at the terrain, I told Pete: ‘This is where I want to live.” The couple secured a $5,000 grant from Disabled American Veterans and the NAC was born, growing from a kitchen-table operation that focused solely on disabled ski instruction into what it is today: A vital community-backed organization that offers year-round programming with a campus, a mountain center, an equestrian center, a Moab hub and statewide basecamps.
Meeche jokes that whenever she presented ideas to include even more programming and reach even more individuals, people would politely tell her to set her sights a little lower. “I’d think, ‘No, you just need to get out of my way,’” she says with a laugh.
Building the equestrian center, for instance, once sounded like a pipe dream.
“I thought skiing was the end-all of changing lives until I saw what horses can do,” she says, describing how horses seem to instinctively be “in on it” when a rider with special needs is placed on horseback for the first time. “I’ve seen kids get off a horse and take their first step, or make the first cognitive sounds in their life.”
Meeche officially retired after 23 years at the NAC helm but continues to work through international opportunities and consulting.
“Watching people write a new script for themselves and feel whole again after their plans have become derailed by a disability has been an incredible way to spend a life,” she says. When she finally left NAC, she told one interviewer, “I have one more thing left in me, I just don’t know what it is yet.”
Recently, she found it.
She is now, living near her daughter and granddaughter in Washington, Meeche serves as the Executive Director at Tierra Village, an organization that aims to develop skills and provide housing and employment opportunities for individuals with mental disabilities.
“It’s a new chapter with a similar theme,” she says. “I can’t quite leave the business of self-esteem, probably because it makes me feel just as wonderful myself.”
Annual Impact
- 5,400+ Program participants
- 32,000+ Program experiences
- $6.5M in Scholarships and Program Subsidies
- 1,000 Volunteers
- 15,000 Volunteer Hours
- 30% Military and Veteran participation
National Ability Center Signature Events
- Red, White & Snow: March 5-8, 2025
- Barn Party: June 7, 2025
- Summit Challenge: August 23, 2025
Discover more leaders who influence and shape life in Utah, here.
