Heather Kaulbach

At some point in life most people will face some form of adversity and summon what is needed to meet the challenge. More rare is the person who faces that adversity with a positive determination and succeeds despite it.

Heather Kaulbach is just such a person. Born in 1955, Heather was totally hearing impaired from birth and though always a part of Bridgetown she spent her school terms at the Amherst School for the Deaf.

Very early in life Heather demonstrated a competitive nature and an attitude of perseverance. As her brother Kevin relates one particular story, early on a September morning in the 1960’s, despite being an Amherst student, Heather walked over to the elementary school and presented herself for class. She remained a student at B.R.E.S. for the entire school year at a time when the word “inclusion” was not yet widely used in the educational system.

Coupled with an incredibly positive attitude expressed by her constant smile and a devilish glint in her eye, that level of focus and determination would serve her well in the years that she played Volleyball for her Amherst school and in her years as a competitive bowler.

After completing High School, Heather moved back to work in Bridgetown and began to bowl. Her first trophy dates back to 1978 and she has amassed an incredible record of accomplishment in the subsequent thirty-four years.

In League play, she has won numerous awards and achieved many milestones for high scores in a single game, highest averages and highest triples.

At the Provincial Level, Heather has been crowned the Nova Scotia 5-Pin Association Ladies Singles Champion three times; in 1989, 1991 and again in 1998. Her doubles team also won the Provincial High-Low Doubles Championship in 1998. At the Atlantic Championships in 1996, Heather won the Ladies High Triple and the Ladies High Average Awards. In 2005 she was awarded the Most Sportsmanlike Award.

At the Canadian National 5-Pin Championships, Heather has twice been a Medalist. In 1987, as a member of the N.S. Mixed team she and her teammates won Bronze and in 1993 she again won Bronze, this time as part of the N.S. Ladies Team. It was the first time that a N.S. Ladies Team had captured a medal at Nationals.

At most of these championships, if not all of them, Heather was the only Hearing Impaired Athlete participating.

Throughout all of those years Heather has also continued to be an active and supportive member of the Nova Scotia Deaf Sports Association and of the Eastern Bowling Association for the Deaf.

Heather continues to bowl to this day and is currently a member of the 2012 New Brunswick Provincial Team which will compete in the next Atlantic Bowls.