Mary Van Ess

The first woman elected to the Hall of Fame, Van Ess was a U.S. representative to the International Curling Federation for ten years. She was a member of the ICF Ladies Committee for six years and its president for two years. After the ICF became integrated, she served four more years. Van Ess also assisted in writing the ICF manuals on accreditation and protocol and was on the medical committee for the 1991 World Championships.

A member of the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin Curling Club, Van Ess held several offices in the Granites before becoming president. She was president of the U.S. Women’s Curling Association, a member of the Tour Team that went to Scotland in 1976 and courier for the Scottish Ladies Tour in 1981.

Van Ess was the manager for the women’s team that went to Calgary in 1988 for the curling demonstrations at the Olympics. She consulted and assisted at the 1987 World Ladies Championship in Lake Forest, IL, and was a director of the World Curling Championships in Milwaukee in 1989. For five years, she was a director of the Wisconsin State Curling Association.