Joan Osborne is a 91-year-old spark plug with twinkling sea-green eyes and an easy laugh. She is also a swimming champion who was inducted into Punahou's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

Although Joan was a swimmer from an early age, marriage and childrearing interrupted her swimming until her mid-fifties. Joan's late husband, Lloyd Osborne, a swimming champion at Yale, was instrumental in getting her started in the U.S. Women's Masters Swimming program in 1973. During 14 years of competition, Joan was listed in the USMS National Top Ten Times in 174 events: ranking first in 53 events; second in 29; third in 20; and fourth in 22. She has held 28 pool event USMS National Records, one Long Distance National Record and four Master's Age Group World Records.

She shrugs off her swimming record saying, "I had big feet and broad shoulders." She still swims a quarter mile twice a week at the YMCA pool in Kailua.

The accomplishment that Joan is most proud of, however, is not her swimming, but the role she played in establishing Kaloko-Honoko-hau National Historical Park in Kona. Joan lived in Kailua-Kona in the 1950s. During this period, she served on Gov. King's commission to save historical sites, a passion she carried long after her term ended. Years later, she got involved in developing a national historical park. "This took a lot more than big feet and broad shoulders. It took a few dedicated people with vision," says Joan. In 1988, Joan's hard work paid off when the 1,100-acre property, which includes a 17-acre fishpond, a heiau, a double ho-lua (rockslide) and many smaller sites, became a national historical park.

Today, Joan doesn't look a day older than 70. She says her secret to longevity is the ability to laugh at herself. A little later she says, "Some people think I'm a freak!" She laughs, her green eyes twinkling. Joan, we think you are a treasure.

By Shiyana Thenabadu

Mahalo to Barbara Guelff '66 Dunbar, USMS history and archives chair, for researching Joan's swimming record.