A trail-blazer in women's swimming, Gail Gladwell, neé Ree, began her life-long love affair with the University of British Columbia more than 90 years ago. Gail was born in 1931 and raised in West Point Grey, only a few blocks from campus.   
 
As an athletic child Gail loved participating in a number of sports including tennis and figure skating, but nothing compared with her love of swimming. She was a natural in the water right from the beginning, learning to swim at her family's Cultus Lake cottage at just two years old. 
 
As a child Gail suffered from hyperthyroidism and she would end up spending an entire year of her life hospitalized at St. Paul's in Vancouver. At that time, the recommended treatment was thyroid removal, which meant Gail would be 100% reliant on daily thyroid medicine for the rest of her life. Getting back to her active lifestyle was crucial for Gail's recovery, and swimming was the perfect sport for keeping her physically and mentally strong. 
 
Long and lean, Gail was known for her gorgeous swimming technique. She was never far from the water and grew up teaching swim lessons down at Kits Pool. When she graduated high school, there was no doubt in her mind she would be attending UBC and joining the Thunderbird swim team. 
 
When she began at UBC in the late 1940's there wasn't a pool on campus, so the swim team had to train out of the Crystal Pool in downtown Vancouver (now the site of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre). It was a major turning point for the program when the Commonwealth Games came to Vancouver in 1954 and the Empire Pool was built at UBC. Hosting the games was a huge deal for the university and Gail remembers the excitement of cheering on the athletes and later training with the swim team in the brand-new facility.
 
Some of Gail's fondest memories are from her days competing as a Thunderbird. She loved the camaraderie of the swim team and how tight the entire UBC athletic community was. Under the leadership of UBC coach Doug Whittle, Gail and her teammates would go on to win the Evergreen Conference Championships three times. More than 70 years later one of her most prized possessions remains a UBC Women's swimming meet trophy cup engraved with "Gail Ree, 1949-1950". According to her daughters, that trophy cup has held a "position of prominence" in every house they have ever lived in.  
 
The pride Gail has for UBC especially shines through in one particular anecdote shared by her daughter Carolyn.
 
"Our father, John Gladwell, was from Panama and he was a childhood friend of our mom's sorority sister. He was stopping through Vancouver to visit and this friend set him up on dates with five different sorority sisters. Four of them took him dancing. Gail was the last date and she took him on a tour of UBC and they had lunch in the cafeteria. Turns out it was love at first sight."
 
Gail graduated from UBC with a degree in Geography and went on to a career in teaching. Together with her husband and children, Gail travelled all over the world living in a number of different countries. But she wasn't done with swimming just yet, or with UBC for that matter. 
 
When Gail's husband of 45 years passed away, her only thought was of moving back to Vancouver. She had heard of a special senior citizen program offered by UBC in which alumni 65 years and older could enroll in graduate school free of charge. At age 74, Gail bought a condo in West Vancouver conveniently located along an express bus route to UBC. From there, she would bus in to campus every week attending classes alongside her 20-year-old classmates. Her intelligence and friendly personality shone through and soon she was a classroom favourite. She studied 'Aging and Fitness' and became a real-life case study for her fellow students!
 
Upon her return to Vancouver, Gail dove head first back into the world of competitive swimming and joined the YMCA masters swimming program. She would go on to compete at national, international and world masters events until the age of 86. Throughout those years, Gail hired personal coaches and read countless books to continually improve and finesse her stroke technique. Her hard work paid off and her treasured medal collection grew as Gail placed and won races right up until her final meet. 
 

Known at Masters swim meets as "the Canadian swimmer", Gail was notorious for seeking out a couple of younger, tall male swimmers to help her onto the blocks. She would convince them to meet her at all of her races and then use their strong shoulders to steady herself before the starter would fire the gun. Right up until her last race at 86 years old, Gail was still diving off the blocks – an almost unheard-of feat for anyone in that age category.

Looking at her long swim career and three college degrees, it is easy to see why many would call Gail Gladwell a pioneer for women. However, it's not a title Gail would ever claim for herself, though her family admits their matriarch was "ahead of her time". Now, at 91 years of age, Gail lives in Arizona nearby her two daughters and granddaughters. She still looks back on her university days with the fondest memories and maintains that swimming for UBC made her a much stronger woman. Her daughters laugh that Gail could have had a successful career in admissions with the passion she has for UBC and its athletic programs.