Montreal Gazette

GRANDMA BOWLS 300

Frances Best, 87, bowls three times a week at salon des quilles volta in bouchervil­le. Last month, she bowled a perfect game — 12 strikes in a row. “I just got up and I did it ... boom, boom, boom,” she tells Stu Cowan. “It just happened and I went: ‘Gee

- STU COWAN scowan@postmedia.com twitter.com/ StuCowan1

It’s hard to believe Frances Best is 87 years old, but she really is.

She was born on April 17, 1931, and on April 19, 2018, she bowled a perfect game — 12 straight strikes using the small balls while playing in a Greenfield Park Legion league at the Complexe Volta lanes in Bouchervil­le.

Best, who has been bowling for 40 years, had come close to 300 before, but had never been perfect.

“I’ve bowled a 280 and a 289 and now 300,” she said. “I just kept trying.

“It came so natural this time … it just happened,” Best added. “I wasn’t nervous, that’s the whole story. Most of the time when I get close, at 260 or 280, then I’d get real nervous and then you miss and you have to get your spare. This time, I just got up and I did it ... boom, boom, boom. It just happened and I went: ‘Gee whiz!’ ”

Best has eight children, nine grandchild­ren, six great grandchild­ren and four great-great grandchild­ren. She still bowls three times a week and before she leaves her home in Greenfield Park and heads to the Volta or Club 300 in Longueuil — the two places she plays — at least one of her children will phone her and say: “Bowl a 300 today, mom.” When Best finally did it, she called daughter Diane as soon as she got back home.

“When I called her and said I did it, she said: ‘No way!’ ” Best recalled. “I said: ‘Yes, I did!’ and she said: ‘I’m coming right over.’ When she got here she gave me a big hug. It was really, really nice.”

When I met Best for the first time last Thursday at the Volta lanes, she greeted me with a surprising­ly strong handshake and a nervous smile, saying: “I’m going to kill my nephew (Wayne Brown) for telling you about this (300 game).”

She was reluctant at first to be photograph­ed and videotaped by Gazette photograph­er Dave Sidaway, saying she didn’t like being at the centre of attention, preferring to stay in the background. But after warming up to the idea and with the camera rolling — saying she was very nervous — Best bowled three straight strikes, which didn’t surprise anybody who plays in her league. Of the first 10 balls she threw in front of the camera, seven were strikes.

“That’s just Frances,” one of her bowling partners said as he watched her knock down the pins while following the same routine each time.

Best’s technique isn’t perfect, but it certainly works for her. Her ball makes a thud each time as it lands about five feet from her release point and bounces twice before following a straight line toward the head pin.

“Mom is still strong,” daughter Diane said. “But she’s soft as putty and she’s got a heart of gold. That’s my mom.”

The great-great grandmothe­r keeps a busy schedule that includes bowling, bingo, poker and taking care of the backyard garden at the home she has lived in for 47 years, growing all sorts of vegetables.

“Up until three years ago I cut my own grass, but now my kids won’t let me,” Best said. “They said: ‘Mom, you can’t do that no more,’ and they took away my lawn mower.”

When asked if she follows a strict diet, Best said: “Oh, no!

I eat what’s coming … I try to watch what I eat a bit, but like anybody else I love having a big hamburger.”

Best worked until she was 19 before marrying James Best and then focused on raising her family. Her husband died 12 years ago after 55 years of marriage and her children decided to organize an annual memorial golf tournament in honour of their father. Best had never golfed before, so decided she better start.

She was 75 at the time and had never swung a golf club in her life. Since then, Best has won the closest-to-the-hole trophy four times at the memorial tournament and has also won the women’s longest-drive competitio­n. Best said she tries to golf as often as possible during the summer at the nine-hole Mohawk Hills Country Club in Kahnawake and her two regular playing partners are female friends age 89 and 80.

“I walked the course until last year, but now I started taking a cart because my legs would be done about halfway through and I’d say: ‘Oh my God!’ ” Best said. “But I used to walk all the time and pull my cart. I’m not very good at golf, but I love it.”

Best also loves to read books — mainly dramas and love stories — and watch sports on TV. She goes to bed at 11:30 p.m. each night and gets up at 8 a.m.

When asked if she could share any secrets to finding the fountain of youth, Best said: “I have no idea. I keep very busy. Just keep busy, I guess. Keep doing things. Don’t sit down.”

I wouldn’t be shocked if there’s another perfect 300 game in Best’s future.

 ?? DAVE SIDAWAY ??
DAVE SIDAWAY
 ?? PHOTOS: DAVE SIDAWAY ?? Eighty-seven-year-old Frances Best bowled a perfect 300 game last month in her weekly 10-pin small ball bowling league at Complexe Volta in Bouchervil­le.
PHOTOS: DAVE SIDAWAY Eighty-seven-year-old Frances Best bowled a perfect 300 game last month in her weekly 10-pin small ball bowling league at Complexe Volta in Bouchervil­le.
 ??  ?? Best admitted she was more nervous being photograph­ed bowling for this story than she was when she put up her perfect 300 game. Despite her initial reluctance, she recorded seven strikes on 10 attempts in front of the camera.
Best admitted she was more nervous being photograph­ed bowling for this story than she was when she put up her perfect 300 game. Despite her initial reluctance, she recorded seven strikes on 10 attempts in front of the camera.
 ??  ?? Best has been bowling for 40 years and says she has come close to a perfect game on a few occasions before her nerves set in. On April 19, however: “I just got up and did it ... boom, boom, boom.”
Best has been bowling for 40 years and says she has come close to a perfect game on a few occasions before her nerves set in. On April 19, however: “I just got up and did it ... boom, boom, boom.”
 ??  ??

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