Lillian Howse

Lillian (Mercer) Howse was born at Grand Falls on 2 June, 1929, one of 5 children of Myra and Victor Mercer. As a child, she was educated at Grand Falls Academy.  After completing her education, she was employed at the Grand Falls Paper Mill.  She married Roger House, with whom she had 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Although at school, there was no regularly scheduled gym period, she did enjoy skating with friends and taking part in other physical activities.  After leaving school in the 1940’s, she joined with a group of her coworkers to form a hockey team.  The team played against teams from other areas of the province.  She played hockey for only a short while prior to her marriage.

She was introduced to curling through a friend during the 1950’s.  Curling suited her needs for a sporting activity with games scheduled during the afternoons while her children were at school.  Highlights of her curling career included playing lead on the Vi Pike team at the 1970 national championships in Calgary and competing as a member of the Kitty Barker team at the nationals in PEI in 1980.  As a senior she continued curling, competing at the Canadian Seniors Curling Championships, Peterborough, ON in 1988 with Vi Pike and again in 1990, when she skipped her own team which competed at Whitehorse.  She served as vice-president and as delegate of the Provincial Curling Association.  She remained an active curler until after 2002 when time again became a factor in committing to a team.

"Grand Falls Curling Club"

"Girls from the Mill"

"Curling in the Afternoon"