Asking someone how they learned to swim is likely to yield several responses. Some people may recall how their parents gently pulled them into the water, patiently encouraging tiny kicks and baby strokes. Others may remember a less ceremonious initiation involving a prankish uncle who flung them into the pool.
The luckiest among us received swimming lessons from a caring, skilled professional instructor. If you live in Gloucester and fall in that last group, your teacher was likely Betty Ambrose.
Given Betty’s youthful spirit, it is hard to believe she has been teaching for over four decades. During that time, she estimates that she has taught over 1,000 children how to swim. Every summer, she finds herself completely booked. Her lessons are conducted in small groups at local Gloucester swimming pools with children as young as 12 months. Moving to as many as four different locations a day, Betty’s swim school combines basic skills with a healthy dose of water safety—a topic she cannot ...