birth_place article_title birth_date
north fitzroy gloria pascoe
 19 february 1919
gloria pascoe

she was born at the salvation army hospital , north fitzroy on the 19 february 1919 .
her parent were john and cecil gertrude smith .
she was the youngest of six children - jack , oriel -lrb- known as judy -rrb- , elsie , roma and vincent .
she grew up in the greensborough area and went to greensborough school .
at the age of 14 , she left school and attended stott 's business college to train as a typist .
in 1942 , she married alf pascoe who was in the air force .
alf pascoe died in 1988 .
she has a daughter and a son - jennifer and bruce .
at the age of 9 whilst playing basketball in the school playground she lost consciousness .
she was diagnosed as having epilepsy .
as her life progressed , her eyesight was deteriorating .
at the age of 55 , she became totally blind .
she received assistance from the association for the blind in kooyong on how to live without sight .
the association formed a blind bowling club and held its first blind bowls championship at the st kilda bowling club .
she played bowls four years before becoming totally blind .
she was able to play pennant bowls with sighted bowlers .
she was selected to participate in 1980 summer paralympics in arnhem and she won a gold medal in the women 's singles b .
in 1981 , she came first in the victorian state titles held at footscray and as a result she was chosen to represent australia at the second world blind bowls championships in england .
at the championships she won a silver medal .
at the 1983 fespic games , she won two gold medals .
in 1983 , she won the progress press sports star of the year .
in 1987 , the association for the blind bestowed on her life membership for services to the association .
a book was published on her life - gloria : light in the dark by gloria pascoe and bruce pascoe .
