Swimming Medals, c. 1926
P20080013001 & 3

Medals awarded to Lethbridge youth swimmer Ivan Thompson. The medals are suspected to be having been won at two Henderson Lake competitions in 1926. According to the Lethbridge Herald, Thompson won gold at a swim meet on 22 July in the category of high point winner (boys aged 16 and below) and on 26 August, he won silver in the Provincial Swimming Championship’s Boys 100 Yard event.

Tragically, Thompson was killed in an aircraft crash on 1 February 1931 while piloting a “moth” plane over north Lethbridge. The crash and death(s) represent the first airplane disaster in the city’s history.

The medals were donated to the Galt by Thompson’s surviving sister Elizabeth Garton who, at the time of the donation, was 91 years old.

Donated by Elizabeth Garton