This past weekend Canada lost a Sports Legend - Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott died at 84 yrs of age.
Barbara Ann Scott was the first Canadian to win a world figure skating title and she was the only Canadian to win the Olympic women's figure skating gold medal. She won that Gold medal at the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz Switzerland.
She was Canada's sweetheart. She was a role model for young Canadian women in the 1940's and 1950's. She won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete in 1945, 1947 and 1948 and was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of fame in 1955 and the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1991.
She became an officer of the Order of Canada in1991 and was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.
She started skating at the age of 7 - and there is a very interesting write up about her early life in the Ottawa Citizen.
She was petite, and pretty, and in 1948 she had a doll fashioned in her likeness.
In 1976 I accompanied my family to my brother's home in Edmonton for Christmas. I had been collecting dolls for some time, and my brother announced that he had found a lady in Edmonton who had a doll collection who was selling off some of her dolls. He had arranged an evening meeting for me to visit this lady and her dolls.
Off we went - my brother and I. It was a frigid cold night and we headed downtown to a trendy apartment complex. I don't remember much about the lady - but I do remember the dolls. She had hundreds of them mostly old and rare all in perfect condition. She had a Barbara Ann Scott doll in her collection. She was for sale for 75.00
For some reason I was drawn to this doll. She was a composition doll, had her original costume and there was something about her that made me return to look at her time and again. I remember my brother whispering that I was nuts if I was thinking of buying a doll for 75.00. But buy her, I did...
This was my doll
It's not the greatest picture - I had to scan it from a rather old photograph taken with a even crummier camera.
She was one of my favorite dolls over the years, but sadly when we hit some rough times financially, I had to sell her to pay some bills.
I wish I still had her -I'm sure if I could even find one, I would no longer be able to afford to buy her.
But I do still have my picture, after all...
RIP Barbara Ann...
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