Jean Allen, 66, was born, raised, married and started her family in Keokuk, Iowa. This is the only Keokuk in the world, located at the junction of the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers in the southeast corner of Iowa.
She learned to swim while in the 5th grade, at the only pool in town, a 17-yarder at the YMCA. During these lessons, she met her future husband, Jim, the Instructor¹s assistant.
When Allen turned 16, the city built a pool complex and she was thrilled to be hired as one of the first guards. They sent her to an Aquatic School in Carbondale, IL, so she could take the Water Safety Instructor's class.
Allen started the first girls' swim team at the Y. Her two sons and daughter swam on an AAU Park Board team and she was one of their assistant coaches.
She worked part-time at a bank, so she would have the summers off and could spend more time at the pool with her kids. In addition, she worked for the Jr. College as a swim instructor.
When her children were grown up, Allen had more time to spend at the pool swimming laps. In the 1990's, "Some guy came to the pool looking for people to swim on a Masters team. It sounded like something I'd like to try. My first meet was in 1995 at the Iowa Masters State meet. In Iowa, there were four Masters meets a year. At one meet, the timing system hadn't arrived so the starter banged two blocks of wood together. When we moved to Florida, 1999, I really enjoyed the greater number of meets and the variety of places to compete."
Allen joined the Mavericks in 2002 because Jean Troy said she'd like it. Troy was right.
Her greatest accomplishment this past year was winning her first individual gold medal at Nationals. Her swim coach son shook her hand and said, "I'm impressed, mom!"
Jean and her husband Jim, live in Sun City Center, FL.

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