Fundraising dynamos crowned

Whitefish philanthropists Richard and Carol Atkinson, who have worked on numerous fundraising projects in the resort town, will reign this year as King Ullr LIII and Queen of the Snows for the Whitefish Winter Carnival.

The couple were crowned at a special ceremony Saturday night in downtown Whitefish.

Richard, a Middletown, Conn. native, attended Wesleyan University in Middletown for a time before joining the Army.

He served as an intercept operator in Bad Aibling, Germany. After completing his military service, he graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo. Married, he and the family, including sons Douglas and Michael, moved to Bowie, Md., where his daughter Sharon was born.

He worked at nearby NSA as a cryptologic mathematician and cryptanalyst from 1963 through 1981. There he met his current wife, Carol, and they now have 11 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

In 1979 he and his brother started the highly successful, upscale travel publication, Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report. In 1981 they added The Harper Collection. That same year, tired of government service, he and Carol devoted full time to nurturing and expanding the publications while traveling the world.

In 1985 they discovered Whitefish, purchased a home and moved there in 1986.

Richard has been involved in several fundraising projects in Whitefish, starting with the outdoor ice rink in 1988 and ending with the completion of a $5.2 million Performing Arts Center in the Whitefish Middle School in 2011.

He also started the girls soccer program at Whitefish High School and coached in 1992 and 1993. His first real introduction to Winter Carnival was 2007 when he and Carol were the grand marshals of the Winter Carnival parade after receiving the Great Whitefish Award in 2006.

 Carol was born in Catasauqua, Penn., and graduated from Penn State University with a degree in liberal arts and from the University of Maryland with a master’s degree in educational technology. She spent close to 20 years at the National Security Agency as an education and training officer and cryptanalyst.

Her second career took her all over the world as a writer and copy editor for Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report.

Her fundraising efforts have included both the outdoor and indoor ice rinks, the Wave fitness center and the Whitefish Middle School auditorium project.

Currently she serves as president of the Whitefish Community Foundation and chaired the grants committee for five years. She is the founder of the Whitefish Arts Council and volunteers for the Whitefish Theatre Company and Tamarack Grief Resource Center summer camps.

Carol has served as a fundraising consultant for numerous area nonprofit organizations.