I always thought my grandma stopped ice skating when she hit 70.

Wrong!

“I’ve raised four children and now I want to do what I want to do,” she told me matter of factly. What she wanted to do, in her seventies, eighties and nineties, was skate on the open-air rink near her house. So she did. 

How did I not know this? How did none of us know this? Of course I know the answer. “When I’m by myself I do whatever I damn well please,” she told me sweetly. She finally threw her skates away when she & my aunt moved to their new house. “I was about 95.” 

My grandma Ann Thoburn Fauver is now 101. She started skating on outdoor rinks when she was about 8 years old. A few years later, around 1934, the Cleveland Figure Skating Club was built. “They planned an end of year show with one group number and spots for 32 girls for which tryouts were held. I was ranked number 33! I would not get to skate in the show which did not suit my competitive streak  and was very upset. The instructor said to my mother, ‘Mrs. Thoburn, if you buy skates that really fit, she could skate.’ My father said, ‘Then get them.’”

I imagine her in the weeks after that, gliding around wistfully in her new skates. Then, at the last minute, one of the 32 girls dropped out. She skated  in the ice show and never looked back. The next year, the skating club formally opened, and grandma helped one of the new coaches put together that year’s skating show. She was 13 years old. 

Cut to more than thirty years later. Grandma was judging a skating competition in Colorado Springs at a somber time for the skating community, shortly after the plane crash that took the lives of the entire U.S. Figure Skating 1961 World Team. During the competition, Grandma learned that the volunteer who was going to produce the ice show back home in Cleveland had backed out. She commented to my grandpa Ben and Ritter Shumway, “I could do it” and Ritter replied, “I will back you.” 

“On the flight home I put together the whole show! I knew all the past shows and the costumes in the storage closet,  I knew my husband and his friends could handle the business side of the production, I knew all of the top skaters to invite as guest stars,  which friends could volunteer for what, and I knew the abilities of our skating pros.  Additionally, Ritter came and skated, and we ran it as a very successful benefit for the Memorial Fund for the next 10 years.”

Growing up I always thought of my grandma as a figure skating judge, and a referee. It was hard not to, since she was frequently tapping away on a spreadsheet to organize a competition or flying off to one. So I asked if she has any advice for people who want to follow that path. 

“Ask yourself – why do you want to go into judging? Do you really know what it involves? How far do you want to go? Remember you’re a volunteer, and others decide if you are worth furthering. I have held onto my technical controller appointment because I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy working with the young set. They are not only fun and delightful to work with, but very knowledgeable and dedicated. It lifts sports up to have those people in the association.

“After I received my first judging appointment, the very first judging session I did was a  low level figure test that I would call a borderline test. When the skater finished, another judge on the panel, a well-seasoned National Judge, walked past me as we were evaluating the figure and quietly said, “You’ve got to give a little credit for the pretty dress.” That is what I call the kind streak, or give the advantage to the skater . You can’t give good marks if the level is not reached, however if good qualities are there it can sometimes make up for it.”

What about adult skaters? “For my adult skaters, I would say – what do they want out of skating? Fun? Companionship? Do you have a competitive streak? I would say, go for it! Only compete doing what you know you can do well. Always have goals. It always has to be fun. The minute it becomes a chore, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

I never thought of grandma as an adult skater herself, although that’s exactly what she was. She co-coached the Hayden adult synchro team Esprit de Corps for years and passed  her gold dances as an adult. (Fun fact – while my mom and her siblings were growing up, they had a dog named Quickstep, who was given to my grandma by her gold dance partner.) She took her own advice as an adult skater. “I loved dance. I liked the flow of the skate blade with the music. And at Hayden, I turned that love of music and skating into creating unique ways to perform geometric formations on ice for synchro. I was never truly into freestyle.”

I have to pause here and point out, my grandma’s kids were all skaters and not a slouch among them. My mom, Vicky Fauver Robb, competed in freestyle at senior nationals. My aunt Lynn coached in Cleveland her entire adult life, and my aunt Jane competed along with grandma for years on Esprit de Corps. And my uncle Bill represented the U.S. in pairs at the ‘76 and ‘84 Olympic Games. So not only was she an adult skater and a judge, she was a mother of four (very) competitive skaters. 

What about the future of skating? “I think it’s a folly when judges try to go black and white. There is that little thing called quality in the how it is performed!  You don’t forget it and it’s worth noting. I feel we saw the best skating before the emphasis on doubles, triples and quads.” And this is coming from someone who’s seen a LOT of skating. “Kristi Yamaguchi was gorgeous. I judged Peggy Fleming when she became champion the first time, and I remember judging Paul Wylie from young skater to champion. I grew up with David and Hayes Jenkins at the Cleveland Skating Club, and knew Robin Cousins , who was a guest star for our annual ice show, Jim Miller, the dancer, and of course,  Scott Hamilton, whom I watched from boyhood to champion!”

After having a rinkside seat to the modern history of U.S figure skating, what motivates her to keep going? “I keep judging because it’s exciting to see really good, well rounded  and innovative programs, using the music.” And she sees the value of skating for the competitors. “This generation is, ‘I want it now.’ Skating doesn’t work that way. It’s about setting your goal and enjoying it, step by step.”