Gwen Stewart will tell you the Fountain of Youth is actually a lake in British Columbia
That old schoolyard taunt, “My dad is tougher than your dad,” may well be eclipsed by a “My grandma is cooler…” rendition in schools attended by Gwen Stewart’s flock of grandkids and greats. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Gwen is the oldest female water skier in the world, setting the record with a slalom run at age 85.
According to Gwen, that’s not such a big deal since she’s been skiing both water and snow for more than 40 years and has no intention of stopping anytime soon.
“It’s like brushing your hair or your teeth,” she says. “Skiing is just something I’ve always done. I don’t feel like there’s going to be a day when I think I can’t do it.”
That’s Gwen Stewart for you. She’s the sweetest go-getter grandma you could dream up. In a voice like fresh-baked cookies—a voice so grandmotherly it belies her grit—she says, “I’ve always enjoyed sports and I guess I’ve never really had time for people who have a lot of aches and pains. Of course, if it’s genuine I have sympathy for them, but so many people complain for no reason at all. I feel like giving them a shake and saying, ‘Well if you forgot about being so sick, you could have a good time!’ That sounds awful harsh, I know, but there are so many people grumbling about things when there are so many things you don’t need to grumble about.”
Gwen and her husband, Robert, began taking their three boys to Mara Lake in British Columbia back in the ’50s to get them away from Vancouver and in touch with nature. As the family learned to ski they graduated to more powerful sport boats, the current tow boat being a 1992 Ski Ray 175, which the family bought new and has kept in absolutely immaculate condition.
Every summer the Stewarts return to Mara Lake with their Sea Ray, although the family’s size has now grown to 20, with grandkids as young as 6 months and as old as 34 years. Gwen and Robert stay for at least five weeks and hold down the fort as friends and family visit off and on. “We have such a great time every year!” she says. “We’ve been going to this same spot year after year for more than 40 years, and nowadays there are about 55 of us all together, all family and friends, and they’ve all got boats and we ski and do everything we enjoy around the water.”
The Guinness quest was a lark, a plan hatched by her boys, Robert Jr., Gary and Doug. The boys had long said she should try for the record, but Gwen shrugged it off, not wanting to make a fuss. She had no idea that her sons had contacted the organization on their own and set up the challenge. “One morning they just said, ‘Ya know mom, it’s a beautiful day, why don’t we ski at 10 o’clock.’ So, down we went at 10 o’clock and I got up on the ski and I was just enjoying myself and all of a sudden I noticed all these boats and I thought, ‘That’s strange that there are so many boats out here,’ but I wasn’t expecting anything. Then I noticed one had a big camera and I thought, ‘Oh no!’ and I went a little weak in the knees and thought, ‘Well, I can’t fall now!’
” When she arrived, triumphant, back on the shore, the family made her Queen for the Day. “They had a crown for me and a god-awful gown,” she laughs, “and my sons served champagne and cake to all our friends.”
Gwen doesn’t just water ski for world records, though; this fireball takes to the slopes each winter, too, during an annual winter-season reunion at Whistler Mountain that mirrors the Stewart family’s summer gathering. “We all look so forward to getting together,” she says. “We did it for our boys and they have done it for their kids… and their kids will probably do it for their kids, too.” So how long does Gwen plan to hold the Coolest Grandma title? “I’ve never stopped and thought that I was too old to do anything. I don’t feel 85,” she says. “I think maybe they made a mistake when I was born!”
