Marilyn Bell

Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio (born October 19, 1937) is a Canadian retired long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Personal life Bell was born in Toronto, Ontario, to parents Sydney and Grace Bell. The family moved to North Bay, Ontario, then Halifax, Nova Scotia, before returning to Toronto in 1946. After her swimming career, Marilyn married Joe Di Lascio and moved to New Jersey, United States. They raised four children, Lisa, Michael, Jodi, and Janet, who were unaware of their mother's fame. Bell earned a BA, became an American citizen and was a teacher for over twenty years. Joe Di Lascio died in September 2007. Bell later moved to New Paltz, New York. Bell later recounted that she did not hear the crowds cheering when she arrived at the waterfront. Bell heard the cheering for the first time when she heard a recording made by a radio station a few days later.

Other swims alt=Stone cairn with engraved stone plaque depicting Marilyn Bell's portrait with swimming cap and goggles and waves in the background and the following text: This cairn commemorates the feat of Miss Marilyn Bell who landed in this bay 23rd August 1956 to become the first woman and first Canadian to swim Juan de Ducat Strait from Port Angeles USA to Victoria Canada. Cairn by Dallas Road Waterfront Trail (Victoria, BC, Canada) commemorating Marilyn Bell's historic swim across the Juan de Fuca Strait. Offered $15,000 by the Toronto Telegram newspaper to swim the English Channel, Bell made the crossing in 14 hours, 36 minutes on July 31, 1955. Her crossing started at Cap Gris-Nez and ended at Abbotscliff, between Dover and Folkestone. She was guided by her coach Gus Ryder and John (Pop) Boswell.

On August 23, 1956, she swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the Pacific coast, swimming from Port Angeles, Washington, to Victoria, British Columbia. It was her second attempt, after giving up after eight kilometres on her first attempt. In 2003, Bell (now Marilyn Bell Di Lascio) was presented with the Order of Ontario.

The National Historic Sites and Monuments Board designated Bell's crossing of the lake a National Historic Event in 2005, and a federal plaque was erected in 2008 near the site of her landfall. Another plaque is mounted on the base of a statue of a lion along Lake Shore Boulevard by the CNE Ontario Government Building. A plaque commemorating her Strait of Juan de Fuca achievement is placed at her landing site in Beacon Hill Park.

Parkland near the location where Bell arrived is now named Marilyn Bell Park. In 2009, the Lakeshore Swimming Club of Toronto held the first annual Marilyn Bell Swim Classic, a meet sanctioned by Swim Ontario. In 2010, a ferry boat to serve the Toronto Island Airport was named the Marilyn Bell 1. The name was chosen as the top name in a contest held by the Toronto Port Authority.

The story of Bell's historic swim was told in the 2001 made-for-TV film Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story with Caroline Dhavernas portraying Marilyn Bell.

An experimental 16 mm film by Brenda Longfellow, Our Marilyn, was made in 1987, and was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1990.