Frances Helen Dafoe (December 17, 1929 – September 23, 2016) was a Canadian pair skater. She was born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Competing with Norris Bowden, they captured four Canadian titles and two

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). The first World Championships were held in 1896 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and they have been held e ...

. They also won the silver medal at the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( or ), were a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from 26 January to 5 February 1956. Cortina, which ...

Career

Pairs skating

Dafoe and Bowden won the 1954 World Championships in Oslo, with 11.014 points. They retained their title in 1955, this time in Vienna. They also won the silver medal at the

. The couple was coached by Sheldon Galbraith. In spite of offers Dafoe described as lucrative, she and Bowden did not elect to go professional.

Judging

After retiring from competition in 1956, they criticized the Canadian Amateur Figure Skating Association for not doing enough to support its members at tournaments. They were suspended later that year from acting as panel judges at championships, a decision they characterized as retaliation for their comments about the association. Despite this initial setback, she ultimately served as a figure skating judge in Canada and at international competitions including the Olympics.

Costume design

Dafoe studied at the

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

, and became a costume designer with the CBC. She worked there nearly 40 years, designing costumes for various shows. She also designed the performers' costumes for the closing ceremonies at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

.Olympic silver medallist and world champion pairs skater Dafoe dies at 86
/ref> In 1991, she was made a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

(CM) in recognition of her contributions as one of Canada's first world pair champions, as an international judge, and as a fashion designer.

Personal life

Dafoe was married Norman Melnick, and had two sons. She died on September 23, 2016, at the age of 86.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dafoe, Frances 1929 births 2016 deaths Canadian female pair skaters Figure skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1956 Winter Olympics Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Olympic figure skaters for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Figure skaters from Toronto Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics 20th-century Canadian sportswomen