Arnprior, Ont. curling icon celebrates 98 years
Isobel Munro hasn't thrown a curling rock in 15 years, but she is still a prominent figure at every bonspiel at the Arnprior Curling Club.
On Saturday, the club celebrated Munro's 98th birthday—every year spent in Arnprior.
"Oh, this is her life," says Steve Munro, Isobel's son.
"She was a member in I believe 1946, so it's been 75 years or more that she's been a member of the curling club."
Munro was a pioneer for the game of curling in the town of Arnprior, winning medals at both the Ontario and Canadian Curling Championships during her sporting career.
"It just started to be a fun game," Munro tells CTV News.
"It was a big thrill because we didn't expect we were going to do things like that."
Her love of the game has been injected into the Munro DNA.
"She curled, we grew up at the curling rink, our father curled in Parry Sound, we grew up watching him," recalls Munro's granddaughter Holly Lopez. "We played competitively in high school."
Lopez says her grandmother never played the game for the glory. It was all in the love of the sport.
"She always talks about having a good attitude and you're always there with the team," said Lopez. "It's not about the individual, it's about the team."
"I like it because it's a team game," says Munro. "One person doesn't go anywhere without the other one."
Over her decades of service to the Arnprior Curling Club, the local icon has done every job available in the building, from cooking in the kitchen to holding the title as president.
Current club president Mike Reid says, despite being named a lifetime member decades ago, Munro continues to pay her club fees.
"She's served us in many ways," Reid said. "She's donated to our programs. We recently purchased all these curling rocks and she's donated to that program."
A curling rock with Isobel Munro's name on it at the Arnprior Curling Club. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)
After 15 years of being out of the sport, Munro says she still misses the game and would get out on the ice if she could and her hip hadn't needed replacing.
The foundations of what the curling club is today is built on Munro's curling rocks.
"She loves this town," says Lopez.
"She supports everything the town does and the town shows their love back."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING | Majority of MPs vote for foreign interference special rapporteur Johnston to 'step aside'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's efforts to assure Canadians that his government is adequately addressing the threat of foreign interference took a hit on Wednesday, when the majority of MPs in the House of Commons voted for special rapporteur David Johnston to 'step aside.'

UPDATED | 'I heard a cracking noise': 16 children, 1 adult injured in platform collapse at Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar
Seventeen people – most of whom are young students – were hospitalized after a falling from a height during a field trip at Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar. However, many of the children are now being discharged and sent home, according to an update from the hospital.
BREAKING | Federal Court of Appeal: Canada not constitutionally obligated to bring home suspected ISIS fighters
The Government of Canada has won its appeal and will not be legally forced to repatriate four Canadian men from prisons in Northeast Syria.
What you may not have known about bladder cancer
Although bladder cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Canada, experts say there’s a significant lack of awareness surrounding whom it affects the most — statistically, men — and that the most common risk factor is smoking.
Canada is first to require health warnings printed on individual cigarettes
Canada will soon require health warnings to be printed directly on individual cigarettes, making it the first country to implement this kind of measure aimed at reducing tobacco usage.
Study identifies the rise and fall of lifestyle habits during pandemic
More than three years after COVID was declared a global pandemic, a new study is looking at how the international health crisis has changed the lifestyle habits of Canadians.
Ottawa sends minister to Nigeria inauguration after accusing party of terror link
A year after arguing Nigeria's ruling party is responsible for terrorist acts, the Trudeau government has sent a cabinet minister to celebrate the swearing-in of its new president.
What slowdown? Economy outperforms, raising odds of a rate hike
The Canadian economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year and likely expanded again in April, fuelling speculation that the Bank of Canada will raise interest rates again.
Canada saw decline in fresh fruit, vegetable availability in 2022: StatCan
Statistics Canada says fewer fresh fruits and vegetables were available to Canadians in 2022, due to factors such as ongoing supply chain issues, labour shortages and price increases.