Career
She is the current world record holder for the W85 3000 metres and 10000 metres. The accommodation to allow her to be guided through her open competitions set the rules for such competitions where she ran tethered to a guide, Paul Hoeberigs, but it was clear she was exerting the effort (as opposed to a dog being pulled by their leash). With failing eyesight since childhood, she hid her failing eyesight and trained as a nursing aid with the Red Cross during World World War II until her condition was discovered.
She had worked since age 12 cooking for miners in Fernie, British Columbia.
At age 60 she suffered a serious back injury in a car accident. He doctors told her to expect to be in a wheelchair the rest of her life, to which she muttered an expletive.
She took up walking, jogging and advanced to competition for the blind. She started masters competition at age 68.
But she had always been athletic.
She participated in the English Bay Polar bear plunge for 76 years and was known as "Queen of the Polar Bear Swims."
In addition to her world records, many other records continue as Canadian masters records. She was the British Columbia athlete of the year in 1982.
