Gloria Pascoe

Gloria Una Pascoe (born Gloria Smith, 1919 to 2004) was an Australian Paralympic lawn bowler who competed as a vision-impaired athlete. Born at the Salvation Army Hospital in North Fitzroy, Melbourne, she was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of nine and gradually lost her sight, becoming totally blind at 55. The Association for the Blind in Kooyong taught her to live without sight and formed a Blind Bowling Club, where she learned the game. She was selected for the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, where she won gold in the Women's Singles B, and she later took silver at the Second World Blind Bowls Championships in England and two gold medals at the 1983 FESPIC Games. Her life was the subject of a book she wrote with her son, the writer Bruce Pascoe.