Acadia Ladies Seminary 1924 …a pioneer and avid spokesperson for women’s participation in ice hockey.
Born in Falmouth, Nova Scotia on May 17, 1903, Marie Sexton attended the local school and later the Edgehill School for Girls where Field Hockey was one of the many activities in which she excelled.
Later, in the early twenties, she played ice hockey and basketball for the Acadia Ladies Seminary teams, being captain of the ice squad while playing creditably the hoop game.
Ice hockey, of course, was in her blood, having performed in Windsor and on the ponds of Falmouth where she competed with sisters Josephine and Hazel and brother Blaine -the latter destined for international fame as a member of England’s squad in the ’24 Winter Olympics and as a world speed skating champion.
While brother Blaine was achieving success in international hockey circles, Marie was being recognized in her own right. Famed researcher and author Dr. Garth Vaughan is quoted as calling her a “hockeyist” in the Annapolis Valley where her Acadia team competed against teams from Wolfville, Kentville, Middleton and Windsor -the contests recognized as social events as well as contests of “skill and endurance”. Team mates of Marie’s included Norma McDormand, Margaret Freeman, Ethel Schurman, Reba Freeman, Heloise Gilmore, and goaltender Lena MacEachern, with well-known Acadia ice star Alden Clark serving as coach.
An-outstanding student, Marie shone at the Seminary in many phases of her program. From ’22 to ’24, being enrolled in the study of Art, Music, and Elocution, she was considered one of the most talented students in Expression, won first Prize in Art and was praised for performing the “most brilliant recital of the year”.
Although she retired from ice hockey following her Acadia experience, she has continued to keep herself fit her entire life, having a small gymnasium in her house and attending exercises as well. In ’94 and at age 91, she was not, however agile enough to elude a rather concerned police officer -who fined her for speeding!
During the Winter of ’99, Marie Sexton Pumell Musser was honoured by the Birthplace of Hockey Society in Windsor by being inducted to its Hall of Fame. On that occasion she told the audience of six hundred that in “hockey as in life, one needs to prepare well and have a positive attitude in everything you do. And remember, if you do not shoot the puck, you cannot score.”
What a distinct pleasure it is to induct to the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame Marie Sexton Purnell Musser –at age 96 “the world’s oldest living women ‘hockeyist’”.
