Although women's intercollegiate athletic competition was decades away when Maribeth Burr Carey '59 attended SUNY Cortland, the former student government leader has gained national swimming and diving recognition in the later years of a lifetime devoted to physical fitness. Carey started swimming at age five in Canasawacta Creek near Norwich, N.Y. She even won a mixed boys-girls diving competition at a county fair. But when she came to SUNY Cortland to study physical education in the 1950's, varsity sports did not exist for women. So, Carey swam on the College's Aquatic Club, joined the Dance Club, was part of the competitive Gymnkana exhibition, and became a cheerleader.
An exceptional athlete, she participated in every intramural sport offered to females. The Cortland student body elected Carey as vice president of the House of Delegates. She served on the Board of Governors and was an active member of Nu Sigma Chi sorority. In 1959, she was elected to "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges." Inducted into Kappa Delta Pi, the national education honor society, Carey was a Dean's List student recognized at the first three Honors Convocations held on campus. She represented the College at the 11th National Student Congress in Ohio. She earned a bachelor's degree from Cortland in 1959.
She married Jack Carey and taught physical education briefly in Rye, N.Y. She left teaching to give birth to the first of her five children - Kevin, Brian, Colleen, John and Kathleen - who all became swimmers. Carey returned to competition herself in 1982. She joined a competitive Masters Synchronized Swim Team, ranging in ages 29-77 years, in Suffern, N.Y. Over the next 15 years, Carey won 29 gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals in competitions held across the United States. Internationally, she participated in five World Masters meets, coming away with 10 gold, eight silver and a bronze medal. In 1993, she became the team's coach and hosted the national meet at Rochester Community College.
Her squads have perennially finished in the top five nationally. Carey, who has competed in numerous triathlons while in her fifties, earned a master's degree from Manhattan College in 1975 and taught physical education to developmentally disabled children during the 1970's at the Rockland County BOCES. From 1979-89, she was diving coach at Spring Valley (N.Y.) and Ramapo (N.J.) High Schools. Since 1978, she has been a high school swimming official for both girls and boys meets and is a past president of the Rockland County Certified Swimming Officials Association.
UPDATE- March, 2015: Carey is once again a Masters World Champion in synchronized swimming winning a gold and a bronze medal in Sweden in August of 2010. She has won at least 1 gold every year at the Master's Championships. In 2005, she was awarded the Mae McEwan Award which is the highest recognition given to a Masters Synchronized swimmer each year at the National Championships. She continues to stay involved by officiating girls and boys swimming over the past 25 years.
UPDATE: Carey was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame in September 2018. In October 2018 she won a gold medal in the 80-and-over age bracket at the U.S. Masters Championships.
