Honoured Members Database

Vera Tustin was born on October 10, 1911 and became one of Manitoba’s most successful swimmers and swim coaches. She dominated the local swimming scene throughout the 1920s. Upon retiring as an athlete in 1936, she took up coaching full-time at the Women’s Amateur Swim Club (WASC). Amongst her students were fellow inducted hall of Fame members Cay (Gordon) Kerr (inducted in 1985) and Vivian (King) Thompson (1984).In 1936, she married Henry Gilbert and coached as Vera Gilbert. 

In 1927, at the age of 16, Vera Tustin debuted on the senior swimming scene with the Women’s Amateur Swimming Club (WASC) and broke the provincial 50 and 220 yard records and the Canadian 50 yard title. Over the next two years she won the Gray Trophy for the one-mile swim of the Red River, broke the 100-yard provincial record and bettered her 50 and 220 yard provincial records. During the 1930 and 1931 swimming seasons, illness (believed to be polio) sidelined her from competition. Her Olympic dream for the 1932 Games was not realized. She fought hard to regain her form and in 1935 she came back to break the 220-yard provincial championship before retiring as an athlete early in 1936.

Vera Gilbert then began a career as a coach. She also officiated, was the summer swim instructor for the community of Grand Beach, and provided aqua therapy to children with polio and other disabilities at the Kinsmen Centre for the Handicapped. She died at Winnipeg on July 19, 1983.