Maribel Owen

Maribel Owen
Personal information
Full name	Maribel Yerxa Owen
Country represented	United States
Born	(1940-04-25)April 25, 1940 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	February 15, 1961(1961-02-15) (aged 20) Berg-Kampenhout, Flemish Brabant, Belgium
Residence	Winchester, Massachusetts
Former partner	Dudley Richards
Former coach	Maribel Vinson
Skating club	SC of Boston
Medal record Pairs' Figure skating Representing the  United States North American Championships 1961 Philadelphia Pairs

Maribel Yerxa Owen (April 25, 1940 – February 15, 1961) was an American figure skater.

She was the daughter of skaters Maribel Vinson and Guy Owen and the sister of 1961 U.S. Ladies' Champion Laurie Owen. With pairs partner Dudley Richards, they placed tenth at 1960 Winter Olympics and won the U.S. national championship in 1961. Along with her mother, sister, and the U.S. Figure Skating team and coaches, Owen died in the crash of Sabena Flight 548 en route to the 1961 World Championships.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Owen was the first child born to Guy Owen and Maribel Vinson. She was named after her mother, and was known as "Maribel, Jr." or "Mara". Her younger sister Laurence was also a champion skater, both coached by their mother.

Owen began to skate before the age of three and at the time the Owen family was living in Berkeley, California, and she competed in girls' singles competitions representing the St. Moritz Ice Skating Club. After her parents' divorce and her father's death, the Owen family moved east to the Boston area in 1952 to live with their recently widowed grandmother in Winchester. Owen formed a pairs team with Charles Foster (later president of the United States Figure Skating Association). In 1956, when she age 15, she and Foster became the U.S. junior national champions. When Foster retired from competition to attend medical school, she teamed with Dudley Richards, a college roommate of Ted Kennedy at Harvard.

...
Wikipedia