Di Simons writes about Mary Phin, AM Life Member

For those of you who don't know Mary Phin she is married to Ashley, she has two sons and one grand daughter and she regularly competes in the 70-74 age group. Mary is my sister and the two of us have consistently marshalled interclubs and state meets for over ten years.

Mary has been a member of Adelaide Masters for 30 years, having joined our club in the early 80s, and she was an enthusiastic competitor at national meets in the 80s and 90s. She doesn't attend club training, preferring to do her own thing at Immanuel Pool close to her home, and these days Mildura is her favourite meet. She enjoys our houseboat holidays there with all the fun and camaraderie associated with these trips.

Mary personifies the dedicated club swimmer. Although no one would class her as a champion she always puts 150% effort into her swims. She is very much a quiet achiever who has earned her fair share of the points which have contributed to our success as a club over the years. One of Mary's favourite quips when she competes in the longer 200 metre events is 'don't all get out and get dressed before I finish the race', so you can imagine her absolute delight when she scored a 25 metre breaststroke record at Mildura recently!

Mary loves to have fun. She was one of the Flim Flam girls in Canberra (with Elly Fleig and Cheryl Lim), and I remember her cavorting around doing water ballet in the Parap Village pool at midnight with Linley Cooper and her daughter Amanda as part of the Frangipanni Girls. Being an ex-member of the Adelaide Water Ballet team and a former teacher of synchronised swimming with the SA Education Department 'performances' like these were her forte. Wherever there were 'goings on' in the club Mary was in the midst of them: our spicy Tinsel Town Tarts floorshow, our risque Cabaret and the Nuns' Chorus floorshow - all a lot of fun!

Members of the social committee know that Mary can always be relied upon to provide food for our barbeques and social events and she is a dab hand at putting numbers on arms at beach swims.

In short I am proud to call Mary Phin my sister!

Di Simons