Fan of the Month: Kathy Morley
Above: Kathy Morley, from Nutmeg Curling Club, enjoys her frequent 3-mile walks on the beach.
Above: Kathy, her husband, and three children at a family curling event.
About Kathy
From: New Canaan, Connecticut
Home Club: Nutmeg Curling Club
Occupation: Former reporter and psychiatric technician
Years Curling: 30 years
Question (Q): What has been your favorite Curler Outreach webinar?
Kathy Morley (KM): I don’t think I can pick one, they have all been outstanding. I particularly enjoyed the panel on Diversity in Curling, the COVID information session, curlers who craft, ways to stay in shape and most recently the session with the bagpipers.
Q: Do you have any special roles at your club, or leagues/spiels you regularly enjoy?
KM: I am currently Secretary of the Nutmeg Curling Club. I put out our curling newsletter the "Hit N’Roll.” I also serve on the club’s COVID committee looking at how we can safely get back to the sport we love. I love curling in our club’s competitive league. I completely revamped my curling delivery under the direction of the most patient skip in the world, Robert Kwan. My delivery was finally coming back together when COVID hit. I can’t wait to get back out on the ice and play, I love curling in bonspiels, I usually try to curl in a few each season. I particularly enjoy curling in our club’s Golden Handle and the Cape Cod Summer Spiel. I have enjoyed curling at Brooklyn’s Lakeside Curling Club in Prospect Park and at New Pond Curling Club in Massachusetts which is outdoors. I love the camaraderie of bonspiels. I’ve met so many great people over the years.
Q: How did you find curling? What was attractive about it?
KM: My parents curled. As soon as I turned 12 I started junior curling at Nutmeg. The junior bonspiels were so much fun. I stay connected via Facebook with a number of junior curlers from back in the day. Curling is a great way to bond with people for life.
Q: Best moment of curling in your life- on or off the ice.
KM: I have had so many - I met my husband, Ed, curling. I first saw him in the warm room when I was 16 years old and told my friend, “see that guy over there, one day I’m going to marry him.” We eventually started dating. Eight years later, we got married. We’ve been happily married for 30 years. (By the way, he had no idea until AFTER we were married that I had made any such prediction. He told me on our first date he was never getting married, and I just happened to like a challenge), On the ice, Ed and and I won our club’s Golden Handle which was a 24 team mixed bonspiel with teams from the US and Canada. I was four months pregnant and my father was terminally ill with cancer. The Golden Handle was my dad's favorite bonspiel. My dad was too ill to be at the club, so curlers would call my dad on the payphone just outside the warm room and update him on the score after each end. I will never forget my dad’s smile. Another one of my favorite moments was many years ago when the Seattle team of Nancy Langley Richard, Nancy Pearson, Leslie Frosch and Mary Hobson came to Nutmeg to curl in the Women’s Nationals. After they won, they showed me their delivery in the locker room. Two years later, I got to curl against them at the Women’s Nationals in Utica, N.Y. which was an amazing experience.
Above: Kathy Morley delivers a stone.
Q: Do you have any personal curling goals for the future?
KM: I hope to curl in the US Seniors and do some more competitive curling. I have always wanted to curl in Canada and hope to do that sometime. too.
Q: Especially in these uncertain times, what does being a curler mean to you?
KM: Curling is such a wonderful combination of camaraderie and teamwork on and off the ice. I have certainly missed being on the ice, but being on the board of our club, coming together during these unprecedented times to sort through all of the CDC and state guidelines and come up with a COVID plan for our club with the overwhelming support of our members has really underscored how much I love being a curler from Nutmeg. Even more amazing, has been the ability to connect with other curlers from clubs across the country like Daphne Roberts of Pittsburgh Curling Club, who has been a great resource on COVID protocols and curling which has been really helpful. I was able to get in touch with Daphne through the US Women’s Curling Pool Facebook Group which has been an amazing resource. Zoom has certainly helped our club to stay together socially. We have had everything from horse racing to bingo nights, book clubs and craft nights to try and keep our club members connected. I can’t wait to see everyone in person.
Q: Anything else you'd like folks to know- about yourself, your club, etc?
KM: I got to play down in the Grand National Junior Men’s team with my brother and his team one year because they needed a sub. Back then, they didn’t have a Women’s Junior Nationals. It is nice to see the strides made in curling over the years and I really like the Ice Breakers initiative put together by Deb Martin and Dean Gemmell to grow our sport. I have always curled out of Nutmeg Curling Club. Professionally, I spent 12 years working as a reporter and special section editor at a weekly newspaper. I then switched gears and worked for 14 years as a psychiatric technician at a mental health facility.
Thank you, Kathy, for supporting the Curler Outreach Program. Good Curling, Kathy, your family, and the Nutmeg Curling Club!
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