Sigrid Laird has been a household name for over 40 years, having taught some 5,000 children how to swim, ranging in age from toddlers to high school seniors.

Olympian gold medal winner and captain of his water polo team, Chris Humbert of Ripon drew his early training from Laird who would lead youngsters in the pool – 26 in her first Ripon class and all under 6 – giving them confidence by swimming in a lane ahead of them.

Humbert began his swimming career in that group of kids six and under and was a three time Olympian in 1992, 1996 and 2000 after first making his mark in several sports including basketball at Ripon High School.

Now living in the city of her birth, Miles City, Montana, Laird returned to Ripon this week for a summer visit to the homes of two of her daughters Stephanie Pratt and Cameron Burton. She first moved to Ripon from Miles City in December of 1961 when she married the late Bo Laird who taught Spanish at Ripon High School – later becoming the school’s popular principal.

A former physical education teacher in Miles City, she learned to swim as a 13-year-old in a man-made lake in that city of 8,500 residents – a lake and a beach bequeathed to the community for recreational purposes. It included a 50 meter water polo area. She credits her parents, David and Ella Rivenes, with encouraging her in swimming and the competition and teaching that followed.

Laird actually began teaching swimming on her own as a teenager with classes of 30 with students ranging from two months to adults including handicapped youngsters. Another 20 came in on Saturdays from a country school.

She said her dad wanted to start something that his three daughters could be involved with, the result the beginning of the (AAU) the Armature Athletic Union. He loved sports and was a caring but strict task master. Her mother sold tickets for the competitions, Laird said of her introduction into swimming meet competitions.

Following her husband Bo’s death, she returned to her childhood home in Miles City and taught biology for 12 years. She remembers fondly coming to Ripon where the couple made their first home and her husband had already launched a swim program. Chuckling, she recalled, “I helped him with that one, because he didn’t know anything about teaching a swim team. He only taught it for one year.”

The Laird children are scattered all over the country, but she finds time to make the rounds. They all had been members of the Ripon Swimming Club – a family of families – all rooting for every swimmer whether they were related or not.

Son David and his family is in Washington State, daughter Bridgett and her family are living in Montana after moving back from New Hampshire. Stephanie and Cameron, of course, make their homes in Ripon.

Sigrid taught her four Laird kids to swim in the Ripon High School pool. “They liked it,” she said with daughter Stephanie intersecting with a laugh, “We had to!”

She remembers an embarrassing moment for her son when swimming in an Escalon meet and on his way down the pool. As a mom she had told all of her children time and again, not to stop for anything. “David had dived in to do the butterfly and his suit came down to his knees, but he continued swimming with his white bottom showing above the water level.”

The swimming coach also clearly remembers the time daughter Stephanie swallowed her nose plug, but went on to finish her race. And there was the time they were going to compete in a meet in Escalon despite daughter Stephanie’s complaints of feeling ill.

Laird told her daughter she would be fine – it was just an attack of anxiety. As the day wore on, she began to feel worse around lunch time. Registered nurse Coleen Fetters, of Ripon, checked her daughter out and discovered she was actually sick with chicken pox, but she nevertheless finished the meet.

While seven months pregnant with daughter Cameron, Laird attempted teaching racing dives in a “big red” bathing suit. Laird said she quickly learned that was not the condition to be in to be teaching any diving skill.

While Stephanie thrived on the competition, Cameron liked socializing, saying it was always fun to watch the differences in her children.

She said that there was often an unexplainable loss of water in the high school pool. She and her students would be met by high school custodian Vern Doom saying they would have to cancel their practice due to the lack of water.

On her current trip back to Ripon Laird traveled with family members to a Turlock swim meet where she saw many of her former students who were there with their own children in competition. It was fantastic she said to see all of them gathered as one big family in the competition.

Debbie Terpsma was there as was Mike Vieira who is now a Tracy motorcycle officer. Sandra Ziesel, Cliff Jorgensen, Irene Van de Pol, Kevin Hawes, and Gina Rudd were all at the meet to cheer on their children and to welcome their well-loved former swimming instructor.

“It’s nice to see what I call the second genera tion in what is really a good sport,” she said. That first Ripon Swim Club was 125 members strong and completely funded by the parents – still is today.

As for Humbert, he and her daughter Bridget grew up together with some fun memories thrown into the equation. She remembers a neighbor calling to tell her they were going door to door with their wagon filled with silverware they were attempting to sell to the women in the neighborhood.

They also figured out how to take a car parked in a driveway out of gear and let it coast out into the street to the surprise of parents, she added.

Laird said that her husband Bo was at all the meets with his starter’s pistol. “He was always there every time we needed him – wearing his flip flops – and getting his feet sun burned.

School district administrator Joe O’Leary served as the announcer with all of his children participating in the meets – David, Mike, Sally and Tom.

Sigrid Laird stressed that swimming is the best exercise in the world because swimmers use every muscle in their bodies. It is a lifelong sport where children learn how to save themselves from drowning. “And it is a sport where everyone is successful. There’s not another sport where the whole family is involved,” she said.

“You will have parents attending the meets from all different teams. Everyone wants all the swimmers to do their best – it is unique to swimming,” she said.