I was very sad to hear this news. I first came into contact with her in 1988 when I started to get more involved nationally with the USMS. I knew of her and her family because they were swimming legends in the AAU swimming for the Vesper Boat Club in the late 1960’s. I remember attending the Mid States Classic that was held at the Kelly Pool in Philadelphia and seeing her win several times mostly in the 200 Fly. She was ranking in the Top 8 Nationally and made the finals of the 100 and 200 Fly often at the AAU Nationals. Back in those days they did not have as many National teams going to meets like they do today, but based on today’s standards she would have been a US National team member, she was that good.
I served on the Championship committee while she was a member for 4 years and then served on the Planning Committee and Zone committee which she was a member and then she became Chair of those committees. In 1996, she was elected to the Executive Committee as Zone Chairman which today is equivalent to the VP of Local Operations. I must say that she was one of the most organized Committee Chairs that I ever served under and was excellent at communicating with everyone in USMS. She seemed to get people motivated and inspired to get involved with the committee tasks. She seemed to handle conflict real well and maybe that is because she was the eldest of 15 children and had to take responsibilities at a real young age.
In 1998, when she started to get more involved with the family insurance business, she stepped back from volunteering for USMS Nationally but still volunteered locally at the LMSC level. She got married to Donald Beilman around this time and was acquiring an MBA degree and CLU for the insurance business. I would see her at National meets and would talk to her about everything going at the time.
She was very well respected in the Swimming community and got into coaching after she left swimming around 1970 and eventually landed the Head Women’s coaching position at Harvard as their first female coach at the university. I remember at the convention she knew almost all the coaches in USA Swimming like Frank Keefe, George Breen, Don Gambril, and George Haines just to name a few. She was real dedicated to the sport and you can see that in the profile that is linked. Also you can see the type of person she was from the comments from her obituary in post 1. I feel very fortunate to have known her and she was an inspiration to me to get involved in USMS back in 1988.
Today is her memorial service and would have been her 68th birthday. She will remain a great friend, great person, great volunteer, and great swimmer and I will cherish the memories that I have in the past about her life.
www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php
