Dr. Raymond S. “Doc” Elmer helped form the U.S. Eastern Amateur Ski Association. Dr. Elmer became a highly respected ski jumping judge and was a member of the Olympic Competitions Committee, the International Competitions Committee and he formed the Ski Union of Americans.

Dr. Raymond S. Elmer was born in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1879, graduated from the Brattleboro school system and went on to Baltimore Dental School where he graduated in 1902 with the highest honors in the class. He practiced dentistry briefly in Morgantown, West Virginia prior to opening his office as a dentist and dental surgeon in Bellows falls, Vermont. He was also a dental consultant to Rockingham Hospital in Bellows Falls where he worked for many years.

Extremely active in civic affairs, Elmer and the service groups he belonged to, particularly the Rotary Club, pushed the Bellows Falls Outing Club to new heights in the 1920s. He was director of athletics at Bellows Falls High School for many years and coached its championship football team in 1911. Elmer was the first to interest high school boys in skiing and formed the first Bellows Falls High School Ski Team.

In 1922 he and a small group met at Saranac Lake, New York to organize the United States Amateur Ski Association. Dr. Elmer was elected president in 1928, a position he held until illness forced him to retire in 1946.

In 1930, Elmer was elected president of the National Ski Association at the Canton, South Dakota convention, serving until 1932. Under his leadership much of the planning for the 1932 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid, New York was accomplished and the California Ski Association and the Pacific Northwest Ski Association were admitted as members to the National Ski Association.

He was a highly respected national and international jumping judge, serving at several national championships, including the 1932 National Jumping Meet at Lake Tahoe, California. He was a member of the Olympic Competition Committee, the International Competitions Committee and was founder of the Ski Union of the Americans.

In 1946 Elmer received an Honorable Service medal from the National Ski Association in recognition of his many years as an able administrator and ski official. “Doc” Elmer, as everyone called him, stood for a sense of fairness and a spirit of sportsmanship that are necessary to build great traditions in skiing.

On May 16, 1947, following several months of illness, “Doc” Elmer died. He was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1959.