In 1956 Nancy Jane Ramey, a 16-year-old swimmer who grew up in the Mercer Island neighborhood of Seattle, competed in the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where she won a silver medal in the 100 meter butterfly event.
In this image Ramey exits what appears to be Seattle's Washington Athletic Club (WAC) after a training session. Ramey was set to leave shortly after for Los Angeles to meet the rest of the US Olympic Swim team, where they were to prepare for their journey to the Melbourne games. Ramey continued to earn medals in the following years, and set two world records in 1958. Ramey later graduated from the University of Washington, and earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin. After moving to Alaska, Nancy and her husband Jim Lethcoe established an adventure-tourism company, a publishing company, and became activists for environmental causes.
Caption information source: The Seattle Times: December 22, 1956, p. 2; December 26, 1956, p. 33. Caption information source: "MI Olympic swimmer still inspires," Mercer Island Reporter, August 6, 2008, section: News. Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff.
ID Number: 1986.5.39852.1
Date: 1956
Physical Description: 1 acetate negative : b&w ; 4 x 5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant.
