Lorna Vinden

Lorna Margaret Skidmore was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia,[1] the daughter of Henry Hearst Skidmore and Elizabeth Margaret McDonald Skidmore. Her father was a newspaperman.[2] She was a gymnast as a girl.[3] In 1951, Vinden contracted polio, and survived with paraplegia.[4][5][6]

Vinden became a wheelchair athlete in her thirties. She earned eight medals at the Wheelchair Pan American Games in Winnipeg in 1967.[3][7][8] She was a member of Canada's national team at the 1969 Wheelchair Pan American Games in Buenos Aires,[9] and at the 1968 Paralympics in Tel Aviv,[10] competing in the pentathlon, track and field, archery, and swimming events.[3] She belonged to the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association.[11] She described how everyday life was training for her: "If you live in a wheelchair you're pushing and lifting things all day. Even jumping a curb downtown while shopping is an exercise."[3]

Vinden was executive secretary of the Vancouver Island office of the Rehabilitation Foundation of British Columbia.[12] She also worked for the Public Service Commission in Victoria, finding employment for disabled workers. "Whenever I've gone job-hunting for myself, I've first scouted the building to see if I can get into it," she explained of the barriers her clients faced. "Washrooms can prove a real hurdle too." She also volunteered with the Kinsmen Rehabilitation Foundation in Vancouver, and the Lions Club Easter Seal program.[13]

Vinden was a member of the Canadian Paraplegics Association, and served on the board of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.[3]

Lorna Skidmore married twice. Her first husband was J. Keith Vinden; they married in August 1950. Her second husband was Ian Anderson, who survived, along with her two sons, Dean and Jay,[14][15] when she died in 2008, in Nanaimo.[16]