Frances DAFOE Bogin’49 and partner Norris Bowden demonstrate their award-winning talent.
For competing nations, the Olympics are the opportunity to gather medals. For our Olympians themselves, the Games are the moment when extraordinary memories develop. Here are a few of their stories.
Raising the Flag by Julia Drake Frances DAFOE Bogin’49 has countless treasured memories from her years as a competitive figure skater. Among the most vivid recollections are those involving the sights, sounds and emotions noted while representing Canada on the winners’ podium. “It is truly an awe-inspiring moment when the flag is flying behind you and they’re playing the national anthem,” says Frances, who earned a Silver Medal in the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, with her partner, Norris Bowden. Her other trips to the podium included a first-place skate in both the 1954 and 1955 World Championships in Oslo and
Vienna respectively; and second-place finishes in the Worlds in 1953 (Davos, Switzerland) and 1956 (Garmisch, Germany). In the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Frances and her partner placed fifth. Sailor Martha HENDERSON’87 also knows the rush of excitement an athlete experiences in the Olympics. With the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing not far behind her, Martha says two memories stand out. “After our first day of competing (in the Yngling Class, three-woman keelboat race), we were in second place,” she says. — continued on next page
The READ Spring 2009
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