Barbara Ann Scott
FRANCES CLAUDET JOHNSON
Born April 12, 1910, Frances Claudet Johnson was the daughter of a British-born mining engineer. Her family was trapped in Europe during World War I. They fled to to Ottawa, where Frances took up skating at the Minto Skating Club at the age of ten. A six time winner of the club's Malynski Cup for ladies skaters, Frances also won a pair of medals in the junior women's event at the Canadian Championships in 1928 and 1929.
In 1931, she teamed up to skate pairs with Chauncey Bangs and in their first try, the duo incredibly beat the North American Champion brother and sister pairs team of Constance and Montgomery Wilson, two of the most eminent skaters of that era. Bangs was an experienced pairs skater, winning the 1927 and 1928 Canadian pairs titles with Marion McDougall, but the lesser experienced Frances held her own when the duo hit the international stage. They won the silver at the 1931 North American Championships and in 1932 placed in the top six at both the Olympics and World Championships. Bangs retired from competition that year (sadly dying from illness only ten years later) but Frances wasn't finished yet.
After teaching music at Elmwood School in Rockcliffe Park - where a young Barbara Ann Scott was among her piano students - Frances staged a comeback effort in 1935. However, it would be her former pairs rival Constance Wilson who would win her ninth and final Canadian women's title that year. Frances would end up third. She went on to skate in the Ice Follies, later acting as the tour's choreographer for an incredible thirty three years.
Frances passed away in her home in Fairfeld, Connecticut on October 17, 2001. Quoted in the "Legendary Night Of Figure Skating" program in 1999, she said, "Skating changed my life. Never too serious about it, I was always completely surprised when I won anything. I loved it passionately. In the spring when the natural ice at the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa started to melt, it was like watching someone die. I would often rush there after school and get down and kiss the ice goodbye."
The 1927 Minto Four: Frances Claudet, Paul Belcourt, Kay Lopdell and Jack Hose. Photo courtesy Library And Archives Canada.
In 1931, she teamed up to skate pairs with Chauncey Bangs and in their first try, the duo incredibly beat the North American Champion brother and sister pairs team of Constance and Montgomery Wilson, two of the most eminent skaters of that era. Bangs was an experienced pairs skater, winning the 1927 and 1928 Canadian pairs titles with Marion McDougall, but the lesser experienced Frances held her own when the duo hit the international stage. They won the silver at the 1931 North American Championships and in 1932 placed in the top six at both the Olympics and World Championships. Bangs retired from competition that year (sadly dying from illness only ten years later) but Frances wasn't finished yet.
After teaching music at Elmwood School in Rockcliffe Park - where a young Barbara Ann Scott was among her piano students - Frances staged a comeback effort in 1935. However, it would be her former pairs rival Constance Wilson who would win her ninth and final Canadian women's title that year. Frances would end up third. She went on to skate in the Ice Follies, later acting as the tour's choreographer for an incredible thirty three years.
Photos courtesy Ingrid Hunnewell
Frances passed away in her home in Fairfeld, Connecticut on October 17, 2001. Quoted in the "Legendary Night Of Figure Skating" program in 1999, she said, "Skating changed my life. Never too serious about it, I was always completely surprised when I won anything. I loved it passionately. In the spring when the natural ice at the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa started to melt, it was like watching someone die. I would often rush there after school and get down and kiss the ice goodbye."
ELEANOR O'MEARA PHELAN
Eleanor O'Meara and Ralph McCreath
With a new partner and game plan in 1942, she was incredibly back to successfully defend her senior pairs title with a new partner, Sandy McKechnie. A busy skater at those 1942 Canadian Championships in Winnipeg, O'Meara also won a fours title with her former partner Donald Gilchrist and a Waltz title with McKechnie. With Gilchrist, she earned the silver in the tenstep. When did this woman have time to even retie her skates? With the 1943 Canadian Championships cancelled due to World War II, O'Meara made the decision to go pro and perform in benefits and skating shows for the troops until learning that the big ice shows sold millions of war bonds by giving performances where admission could only be obtained by buying a victory bond.
Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine
Her program to "Prelude G Minor" and "Carmen" was praised highly when she toured with the Ice Capades. She was lauded by one California columnist as being the "greatest natural skating ballerina", even moreso than Sonja Henie. A Boston newspaper in 1945 raved, "Eleanor stands alone - she's marvellous. She's a Toronto girl but has achieved frozen fame on every major ice rink in North America."
A MacLean's Magazine article from February 15, 1944 said of O'Meara: "Call it oomph, showmanship, or whatever you like, Eleanor O'Meara has learned to combine her great natural skating ability with her refreshing beauty and personality." She toured with Ice Capades for only three years, retiring from skating in 1946, married a judge in 1947 and raised five children in Toronto. O'Meara died of cancer in Toronto on March 21, 2000 at the age of eighty three.
DOROTHY AND HAZEL CALEY
Of the five Caley sisters of Toronto, Dorothy and Hazel were the two that made the biggest mark in skating. After winning the Canadian junior women's title in 1936, Dorothy Caley moved up to the senior ranks and won the senior title in 1937 on her first try. The defending champion Eleanor O'Meara had to settle for silver that year. They traded places in 1938 and by 1939, Dorothy Caley turned to fours skating, winning the North American title in Toronto with her sister Hazel, Ralph McCreath and Montgomery Wilson.
Dorothy and Hazel first learned to skate together in their backyard in Toronto, which their father flooded every winter for his daughters to practice on. Like Eleanor O'Meara, their former training was at the Granite Club. With the war putting an effective stop to any Olympic aspirations for either sister, they decided to join the professional ranks. They had dreams of touring in Australia but when Sonja Henie extended an offer to the sisters to join her tour in 1940, they put those didgeridoo dreams away quickly too. Their first show was at Radio City in New York, which had an ice theatre recently opened by the Rockefeller's. Given to whim, both sisters were known to improvise their routines. They also reportedly refused to have a manager, turned down all movie offers and only performed when they felt like it. In 1941, Hazel married and had a child and took some time away from the sport, but was back skating with her sister Dorothy by 1943, who had been skating both solos and duets with Fritz Dietl in the meantime.
Dorothy married the Chief Magistrate of Ontario, the Honourable Arthur Otto Klein and had two children. She passed away on September 5, 2012 in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Her obituary said, "Outgoing, charming and high-spirited, Dody loved the camaraderie of Granite Club Ladies curling, often writing or directing the light-hearted annual Robertson Ladies Bonspiel show. She golfed enthusiastically as a York Downs and a Saugeen Golf Club member, devising an alternative method of scorekeeping to recognize the joy of many 'great shots' on a hole. Her eternal passion was creating her exuberant and ever-changing garden, where she might be found, or lost, late into the night, tending the flowers and baby trees that found their way to the gardens of her many friends."
Hazel (Caley) Waite McTavish, a mother of four, passed away at the age of ninety eight in January of 2016. Her daughter quoted her as once saying, "I've had some hard times but everyone does. I've had a wonderful life."
Left: Dorothy Caley. Left: Hazel Caley.
Dorothy and Hazel first learned to skate together in their backyard in Toronto, which their father flooded every winter for his daughters to practice on. Like Eleanor O'Meara, their former training was at the Granite Club. With the war putting an effective stop to any Olympic aspirations for either sister, they decided to join the professional ranks. They had dreams of touring in Australia but when Sonja Henie extended an offer to the sisters to join her tour in 1940, they put those didgeridoo dreams away quickly too. Their first show was at Radio City in New York, which had an ice theatre recently opened by the Rockefeller's. Given to whim, both sisters were known to improvise their routines. They also reportedly refused to have a manager, turned down all movie offers and only performed when they felt like it. In 1941, Hazel married and had a child and took some time away from the sport, but was back skating with her sister Dorothy by 1943, who had been skating both solos and duets with Fritz Dietl in the meantime.
Photo courtesy Library And Archives Canada
Dorothy married the Chief Magistrate of Ontario, the Honourable Arthur Otto Klein and had two children. She passed away on September 5, 2012 in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Her obituary said, "Outgoing, charming and high-spirited, Dody loved the camaraderie of Granite Club Ladies curling, often writing or directing the light-hearted annual Robertson Ladies Bonspiel show. She golfed enthusiastically as a York Downs and a Saugeen Golf Club member, devising an alternative method of scorekeeping to recognize the joy of many 'great shots' on a hole. Her eternal passion was creating her exuberant and ever-changing garden, where she might be found, or lost, late into the night, tending the flowers and baby trees that found their way to the gardens of her many friends."
Hazel (Caley) Waite McTavish, a mother of four, passed away at the age of ninety eight in January of 2016. Her daughter quoted her as once saying, "I've had some hard times but everyone does. I've had a wonderful life."
CATHERINE NORAH MCCARTHY
Like the Haley sisters, Norah McCarthy grew up skating outside of Montreal with her sister Tasie, a Canadian junior women's champion and senior fours champion in her own right. Their father was a railroad official and sports promoter. When he was transferred to North Bay (an area that lacked a skating coach at the time), Blanche McCarthy would drive her two daughters all the way to Ottawa to train in the winters. In the summer, the sisters trained in Lake Placid and were popular stars of the carnivals put on for locals there.
Training for eight months a year and being tutored paid off for Norah McCarthy in 1938, when she won the Canadian junior women's title. The next season she'd win silver in the senior ranks and in 1940, she won her one and only Canadian senior women's title. In 1939 and 1940, she'd also won the Canadian senior pairs title with Ralph McCreath. The cancellation of the 1940 Winter Olympics after she'd been named to the team in two disciplines meant an uncertain future for the young skater who was described in magazines as "a beautiful black-haired skating cutie" and had trained all her life for that moment. She stuck it out for another season, finishing third in the women's event at Nationals and winning a bronze in the Canadian women's medal sweep at the North American Championships in 1941, but opted to turn professional in 1942. She balanced a highly successful career touring North America with the Ice Follies with an incredible busy life that included time spent coaching younger skaters, playing tennis, horseback riding, swimming, sailing, canoeing, fishing and hunting. Among her skating students were the famous Dionne Quintuplets. McCarthy married 1942 Canadian Men's Champion Michael Kirby and had eight children. She was honoured by Skate Canada when she attended the 2013 Canadian Championships in her hometown of London, Ontario and sadly passed away in May of 2019.
Norah McCarthy and Donald Gilchrist
Training for eight months a year and being tutored paid off for Norah McCarthy in 1938, when she won the Canadian junior women's title. The next season she'd win silver in the senior ranks and in 1940, she won her one and only Canadian senior women's title. In 1939 and 1940, she'd also won the Canadian senior pairs title with Ralph McCreath. The cancellation of the 1940 Winter Olympics after she'd been named to the team in two disciplines meant an uncertain future for the young skater who was described in magazines as "a beautiful black-haired skating cutie" and had trained all her life for that moment. She stuck it out for another season, finishing third in the women's event at Nationals and winning a bronze in the Canadian women's medal sweep at the North American Championships in 1941, but opted to turn professional in 1942. She balanced a highly successful career touring North America with the Ice Follies with an incredible busy life that included time spent coaching younger skaters, playing tennis, horseback riding, swimming, sailing, canoeing, fishing and hunting. Among her skating students were the famous Dionne Quintuplets. McCarthy married 1942 Canadian Men's Champion Michael Kirby and had eight children. She was honoured by Skate Canada when she attended the 2013 Canadian Championships in her hometown of London, Ontario and sadly passed away in May of 2019.
MARY ROSE THACKER TEMPLE
Mary Rose Thacker and Dorothy Caley
Born April 9, 1922, Winnipeg, Manitoba's Mary Rose Thacker was perhaps of all of the women mentioned here the most successful as a singles skater. She won the Canadian senior women's title in 1939, 1941 and 1942 in addition to two North American titles. However, the advent of World War II hampered her participation in Olympic or World competition. Like McCarthy, Thacker was named to the 1940 Olympic team that never was. A diminutive skater at five foot four and one hundred and fifteen pounds, Thacker was a shy brunette with a confidence that exuded when she took to the ice. Her coaches were Leopold Maier-Labergo and Ferdinand G. Chatté.
Mary Rose was particularly known as a strong free skater and actually finished ahead of Barbara Ann Scott in winning her 1941 and 1942 Canadian titles. She started skating at four years old and was also an exceptional equestrian, swimmer, ballet dancer (trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet), fencer and spoke several languages.
In 1942, Mary Rose turned professional. After a short-lived marriage that saw her relocate to Jamaica and a stint of shows, she turned her attention to coaching. In 1945, she became the first professional coach at the Vancouver Skating Club. The following year she opened her summer school in Nelson - one of the first such schools in British Columbia. She taught in Victoria, Seattle and Bremerton, raised three daughters and found time to sculpt, play the piano and paint. In 1976, she teamed up with Ron Vincent and Frank Nowosad to found the Canada Ice Dance Theatre. After training elite level skaters for over thirty years, she passed away in July of 1983 in Victoria, British Columbia. She was posthumously honoured by Skate Canada (CFSA) with an induction to the organization's Hall Of Fame in 1995.
Mary Rose was particularly known as a strong free skater and actually finished ahead of Barbara Ann Scott in winning her 1941 and 1942 Canadian titles. She started skating at four years old and was also an exceptional equestrian, swimmer, ballet dancer (trained at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet), fencer and spoke several languages.
Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine
In 1942, Mary Rose turned professional. After a short-lived marriage that saw her relocate to Jamaica and a stint of shows, she turned her attention to coaching. In 1945, she became the first professional coach at the Vancouver Skating Club. The following year she opened her summer school in Nelson - one of the first such schools in British Columbia. She taught in Victoria, Seattle and Bremerton, raised three daughters and found time to sculpt, play the piano and paint. In 1976, she teamed up with Ron Vincent and Frank Nowosad to found the Canada Ice Dance Theatre. After training elite level skaters for over thirty years, she passed away in July of 1983 in Victoria, British Columbia. She was posthumously honoured by Skate Canada (CFSA) with an induction to the organization's Hall Of Fame in 1995.
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