Eldon “Frenchy” Chuinard was born in 1904 in Kelso, Washington. He went to college at the University of Puget Sound and Oregon Health Sciences University. Frenchy went into practice as an Orthopedic Surgeon, and served as a Chief Surgeon at Shriners Hospital for crippled children. He retired at the age of 76.

Chuinard had a life long interest in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and served as the founding of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and the chairman of the Governor’s Lewis and Clark Trail Committee. He wrote extensively on Lewis and Clark, and in 1979 published Only One man Died: The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Arthur H. Clark Company), which has remained in print with various publishers for many years. Chuinard donated his library to the College in the late 1980’s. This collection served as the foundation for the other collections that followed.

Dr. Chuinard died February 9, 1993. His legacy lives on in his writings, library, and his commitment to scholarship of the Lewis and Clark expedition.