Cannon (nee Caldwell), Frances Jean (1941-2005)

“Fran” is best known as becoming, in 1972, the first woman to swim the 21-mile Georgia Strait connecting Vancouver Island with the Lower Mainland.  A plaque honoring this achievement is erected on Granville Island on the Trans Canada Trail.

She graduated from Vancouver General Hospital SON in 1963, winning the award for the highest standing in bedside nursing in a class of more than 170.  She worked in Public Health in both BC and Ontario and taught Maternity Child Health at a Toronto Hospital.

Contents of Biographical File

  1. Biographical information
  2. VGH Commencement program for 1962
  3. Candlelight capping for 1963
  4. Congratulatory letter from Beverly DuGas May 30, 1963.
  5. J.L. Crowe High School Reunion, 1980.
  6. St. John Ambulance First Aid Certificate.
  7. Articles on her swimming
  8. Photocopied photographs.  Five prints
  9. Obituary  Vancouver Sun, Jan29, 2005