In Memoriam: Clara Lamore Walker ’64, ’73G, ’78G, world-famous master’s swimmer, PC athletes’ ‘grandmother’
By Charles C. Joyce
Clara Lamore Walker ’64, ’73G, ’78G, an Olympian and world-renowned master’s swimmer who was one of the first women to earn a bachelor’s degree from Providence College, died on April 2, 2021. She was 94.
Her claim to fame was swimming at the highest levels of the sport, but at PC – where she trained, interacted with the women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams for three decades, attended daily Mass, and even worked in residence life – she was known as Clara or referred to as “grandmother” by student-athletes and students alike.
Mrs. Walker’s selflessness and focus on others’ well-being, and not her own success, camouflaged a life that “would be a heck of a movie,” said John O’Neill, the Friars’ swimming and diving coach.
During her lifetime, she worked for the New England Telephone Company, was a cloistered nun with the Order of the Cenacle, earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and master’s degrees in guidance/counselor education and secondary administration from PC, taught English and served as a guidance counselor in Cranston, R.I., public schools, traveled around the world, and was married to a U.S. Navy officer for several years before his sudden death.
Born and raised in Providence, Mrs. Walker joined the Olneyville Boys Club swim team and quickly developed into a five-time AAU All-America swimmer. Her success led to a berth in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games in London, where she competed in the breaststroke. She swore she would never swim competitively after that because of the years of training, but 32 years later, when her doctor recommended she take up swimming to alleviate back pain, she was back in the pool.
Mrs. Walker started training again after she set a national record in the 50-yard breaststroke in the 50-54 age group in her first meet. From that point on, swimming multiple strokes, she set 184 world records and 467 national records as a master’s swimmer. She was the first female master’s swimmer to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995.
PC and its Taylor Natatorium in the Peterson Recreation Center quickly became the home for Mrs. Walker’s training after the center opened in 1981. O’Neill recalled her daily routine of attending Mass and training in and out of the pool for two hours. O’Neill, who offered training and stroke advice to Mrs. Walker, and his women’s and men’s swimmers quickly came to develop close relationships with her.
That association continued for approximately 30 years, with Mrs. Walker attending PC swim meets and getting to know new swimmers each year. She became close to many of them, frequently attending their weddings over the years, and swam with them each year in southern Rhode Island at their Swim Across America fundraiser for cancer research.
Mrs. Walker, who was the aunt of Paul R. Lamore ’81, ’01G, also worked for several years in the late 1990s as the hall director at Raymond Hall on campus.
