Grace Sykes McIntosh McFarland

July 25, 1915, Walkerville, Essex, Ontario, Canada

October 28, 2016, Hugo, Choctaw County, Oklahoma

Buried Showman’s Rest, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Hugo, Oklahoma

I am at the age where people don’t notice me—they just look past the graying hair, sloped shoulders, and age-spotted hands and face.  Like most of us, however, you can’t judge a tattered book by its cover. 

For instance, for over 25 years the “Pink Lady” at the Choctaw Memorial Hospital as Grace Sykes McIntosh McFarland was known, had a past most wouldn’t have guessed by looking.  Beyond her winning smile and pleasant demeanor was a former circus performer.  She had been a trapeze artist, aerialist and bareback rider—a daredevil for sure.  She knew the thrill of hearing audiences cheer and gasp as they watched her swing high above the circus tent floor flying from one side of the big top to the other.    

In her dotage, Grace delivered Meals on Wheels for over a decade which was a far cry from the horseback riding of her circus days. Grace Lillian Sykes McIntosh McFarland, the daughter of Percy Sykes and Ida Bensinger Sykes left her home in the small town of Walkerville, a neighborhood in Windsor, Canada, named for Hiram Walker of Canadian Club whisky fame, and took off to find her fame and fortune in the circus.  And fame she found riding on the back of a galloping horse, or high above the circus stands swinging on the trapeze.  Grace worked in some of the biggest and most well-known circuses, such as, the Ringling Brothers Circus, the Clyde Beatty-James Cole Circus, and the Tom Mix Circus.

So, the next time you see an aged and perhaps blue-haired volunteer, “pink lady,” pushing a trolley inside a nursing home delivering smiles and food to the residents, don’t assume you can guess what adventures they’ve had in their lifetime.  There is more than likely a fascinating story between the covers!