Founded in 1955, the Sierra Peaks Section (SPS) offered its first official trip May 5-6, 1956, to Deer Mountain in the Southern Sierra. Membership in the section quickly grew from eighteen founders to 176 by 1960, and the SPS was by then leading twenty-five trips every summer. As Southern Sierra said at the time, it was “by far” the most active section. Our renowned founding member Barbara Lilley is still climbing peaks, and two others are still alive, possibly three more whose whereabouts are unknown.