Some U.S. Figure Skating Officials who were members of the Skating Club encouraged her to consider judging and in her Senior year at Laurel she was a trial judge. After she graduated from Allegheny College and married, it was only natural that skating became a family affair. Her husband learned to skate and all four of their children took up the sport: daughters Lynn ‘64 (a longtime Cleveland coach), Victoria ‘67 (who skated in senior nationals), Jane ‘71 (who competed with Ann in synchronized skating on Esprit de Corps) and son Bill, a former pairs skater and two-time Olympian.

 

Along the way Ann became a highly respected national judge in singles, pairs, ice dance and synchronized skating. Much of her focus for the last four decades has been as a technical specialist for synchronized skating—which is very complicated as it involves looking at 16 skaters instead of one or two.

 

She coached and skated on synchronized teams well into her 70s and did not hang up her skates until she was 95. As the oldest active judging official in U.S. Figure Skating, she keeps up with all the ISU (International Skating Union) changes. Officials are volunteers—with practical and written exams required to maintain credentials—and Ann spends the summers studying the new rules so she is prepared for the start of the synchronized skating season each December. As she shared with WGBH-TV in February 2026, “there is a lot of joy that comes from judging but it’s a big responsibility. Even today when I walk into a rink, my heart is with the skater. I love it when a program is finished and I have watched a beautiful performance and I have the pleasure of giving them a nice high mark.”

 

Ann and her late husband performed in and produced the Cleveland Skating Club ice show for many years. When they “retired” to Maine in 1987, she immediately got a job in the Gorham school system (she didn’t retire until 2020!) It was evident that her connection with young people transcended the ice.

 

Fellow judges, all of them younger, some of whom she judged when they competed in their youth and many of whom she has taken under her wing and mentored, applaud her three “e”s— energy, enthusiasm and encouragement.

 

Some people have a ringside seat to history—Ann has had a rinkside seat—as a skater, as a longtime U.S. Figure Skating official and as a coach and mentor, both on and off the ice. We are honored to induct Ann Thoburn Fauver ‘40, inspiring athlete and coach, into Laurel School’s Athletic Hall of Fame.