Lorraine M. Duvall, author

Lorraine Duvall became a lover of the Adirondacks early in life through a Girl Scout canoe-camping trip on Upper Saranac Lake. As an adult, she vacationed in the southern Adirondacks. Her longtime dream of living in the Adirondacks was realized after she purchased land in Keene in 1995, built a house, and moved there as a retiree. Since moving to these mountains, Duvall’s varied civic and environmental endeavors have helped her to understand and respect the different perspectives of those who live in and visit the Adirondacks.

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As a board member of Protect the Adirondacks (and its predecessor organization, the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks), Duvall devotes her efforts to environmental issues. In the early 2020s he led an effort on environmental justice for the Keene Valley Congregational Church. She also served on the Keene Planning Board, the board of the Ausable River Association, the board of the Saranac Lake Community Store, the executive committee of the Hurricane Mountain Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, and the Community Services Board of Essex County.

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Since retiring to the Adirondacks, Duvall has authored four books:

• And I Know Too Much To Pretend (2014). Won the Literary Award from the Adirondack Center for Writing for Best Memoir of 2014.

• In Praise of Quiet Waters: Finding Solitude and Adventure in the Wild Adirondacks (2016). Won the Literary Award from the Adirondack Center for Writing for Best Memoir of 2016.

• Finding A Woman’s Place: The Story of a 1970s Feminist Collective in the Adirondacks (2020).

• Where the Styles Brook Waters Flow: The Place I Call Home (2023).

 

​Duvall holds a BS degree in Mathematics from Grove City College (1960), an MS in Operations Research from Syracuse University (1974), and a PhD in Information Studies from Syracuse University (1995). She spent her professional career as a software engineer and director of research.