Jane Blanchard turned 88 years old on May 9, the day before Mother’s Day.
We visited at her home in Summerhill Assisted Living in Peterborough the day after Mother’s Day, surrounded by seemingly endless flowers delivered with notes of love from her children and friends.
Summerhill was just a 17-bed adult care home in a house when Jane worked there as a registered nurse in the 1970s. She moved to Peterborough in 1962, with her two young children, Terrie and Doug. Brothers David and Ken arrived a few years later.
Having downsized from a larger apartment in downtown Peterborough about a year ago, Jane let go of more than a few prized possessions, including all but one of her dozens of waterskiing trophies from the 1950s.
Since our May visit, Jane’s been hunting down her old scrapbooks in search of photos. Fortunately, she found a few gems. Worth the wait.
Jane was 12 when she stepped onto her first water skis, crafted by her father from wood that he steamed and bent to shape. He then fashioned old tire inner tubes into foot grips and, in time, did the same for Jane’s younger sisters, Ruthann and Linda.
Though both parents, John and Norma Bailey, waterskied, John coached the girls.
Every weekend, the family packed their waterskis and a picnic in the woody and headed to Kingston Bay, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, not far from the cabin her father built with logs he cut and peeled right on the property.
Jane recalls being 4 years old when she watched her father collect rocks, making the pile bigger and bigger. The rocks were used to build four beautiful fireplaces in the family’s home.
“Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” is how Jane describes her childhood. “My dad was practical and could make or fix anything.” The family lived next door to John’s parents, who played a key role in Jane and her younger sisters’ lives.
Holidays were spent at her grandparents’ grand five-bedroom house on the hill with a view of the bay that Jane so loved skiing on all summer long. From the age of 12, well into adulthood, Jane looked forward to spending weekends on the water.
John built the family’s first ski boat from a kit, a 12-foot wooden boat with a 25-horsepower Johnson outboard.
“Dad was our water ski teacher, taught us the right way to ski, and he used that same teaching technique when he opened his own water ski school in the late 1950’s in Kingston Bay,” she said. Waterskiing was fairly new then. If you knew about it, it might be because of Cypress Garden shows in Florida, but it wasn’t very popular yet.
Jane recalls the learning curve: Start on two skis. Once you get comfortable with that, you lift one ski and see how that feels and eventually you learn to drop one ski. You learn which leg is your strongest. With lots of practice and coaching, Jane started doing tricks. After mastering a few tricks and lots of pizzazz, she and her sisters began doing exhibitions, including fundraisers during the polio epidemic.
The Bailey sisters also put on a show when the Mayflower replica sailed into Plymouth Harbor in 1957. Thousands of people swarmed the waterfront for the historic celebration. Being asked to put on an exhibition as part of the Mayflower tour was a big honor. “It was thrilling,” Jane said.
Jane’s tricks included single ski acrobatics, side sliding, backward skiing, and pyramids. John was a safety-first coach. Jane said there were never any injuries. “I never even got a bad sunburn.”
In addition to shows on her Kingston Bay home turf, Jane skied competitively on Lake Winnipesaukee’s Paugus Bay and Lake Placid, New York.
Even while at nursing school at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Jane’s father picked her up every weekend to train or compete. “I really liked slalom and jumping. At my peak, after I hit the ramp, I was sailing over 60 feet and sticking the landing. I loved that. Just flying.”
Singles was fun, but Jane really loved doubles and couples performing. Frank Frisbee was one of her favorite ski partners. For one routine, he dressed as Little Abner in bib overalls, and Jane as Daisy May, donned cut-off jeans and a white fringe top. “We had so much fun.”
Part of their routine: Frank and Jane were towed on separate lines behind a boat, and when the couple was close enough, Jane stepped off her skis and onto the front of Frank’s skis. They skied like this for a bit, then Jane climbed into his arms, and onto his shoulders.
At 5 feet, 7 inches, Jane standing atop 6-foot Frank was an impressive sight. “I had to ski with Frank because all the other guys were little things who I didn’t think could hold me.”
John’s teaching techniques worked. Everyone wanted to learn to waterski after seeing how much fun Jane and her sisters were having. His school was very successful.
Jane graduated from nursing training in 1959 and was already working in Boston’s Children’s Hospital when her sister Ruthann joined a USO tour. Ruthann performed in waterskiing exhibitions across the United States, as well as in Japan and other countries where U.S. troops were stationed in the 1950s.
A public school student, Jane says she loved classes as much as extracurricular activities. First base was her sweet spot on the softball team, stretching her tall frame to beat most runners if given half a chance with a decent throw from a teammate. Field hockey and cheerleading also filled her schedule. The basketball coach made every effort to recruit Jane, but she refused to give up cheerleading.
Nursing training at Children’s Hospital in Boston was thrilling. Just a few weeks into the program, Jane was on the floor, working with patients. “It was hands-on training, not just academic. We saw the most incredible work: the early days of open-heart surgery, and so many other groundbreaking procedures and treatments. It was such an exciting time.”
For those who have known Jane over the last 35 years, you know her as Jane Blanchard. She and Phil Blanchard married in 1991. Sadly, Phil died the day after Christmas in 2022.
They’d grown up in the same neighborhood in Massachusetts and played together as children. Many years later, at a family gathering, the two were randomly seated next to each other. “Someone ushered this man in beside me. I scooted over to make room and noticed how nicely pressed his pant leg was and looked up to see Phil. We were both surprised. It had been so many years. We couldn’t stop smiling.”
Phil had just retired from the Air Force as Lieutenant Colonel. They were both single. That accidental first date led to more than 30 years of love, friendship, and adventures big and small.
Though Jane gave up waterskiing a couple of decades ago, she was still downhill skiing until 82. “I stopped because getting off the chairlift was getting tough. I was too proud to ask the lift attendant at the top to slow the chair.”
Her ski days are behind her, but Jane still gets her kicks and fresh air daily. Walks and talks with friends and family keep life interesting. It’s a gift to have warm memories while still making new memories with friends, new and old.