Maribel Owen

Maribel Owen was the daughter of US figure skating royalty, her mother being [Maribel Vinson-Owen], who competed at three Winter Olympics and won 13 national titles, nine in singles and four in pairs. Maribel Owen competed in pairs with Dudley Richards. Together they placed third at the 1959 US Championships and sixth that year at the Worlds, having come to national prominence in 1956 when they were US Junior Pairs Champions. In the 1960 season Owen and Richards finished second at the US Championships, and 10th at the Olympics and Worlds. In 1961 they won the US pairs title, with much expected of them in coming years. But they never competed again. Travelling to the 1961 World Championships aboard Sabena 548, their plane crashed near Brussels, killing the entire US figure skating team. The plane’s passengers included Maribel’s mother, a coach of the team, and her sister, Laurie Owen, the 1961 US singles champion. At the time of her death, Maribel Owen had been a student at Boston University, majoring in sociology and anthropology.