Community mourns death of Molly Kurvink after Guelph Lake ice collapse

A national champion sailor and musician from Guelph has died.

Margaret Kurvink​, known to most as Molly, died during an iceboating accident on Guelph Lake Wednesday afternoon. Kurvink​, 62, was with her husband Harri Palm when Wellington OPP say the iceboat they were on went through the ice.

Kurvink went into the water around 3:30 p.m. and her husband tried to pull her out, which is when they became trapped in the frigid waters. 

The couple were stranded approximately 60 metres from shore, police said.

Both were rushed to hospital. Police later reported on Twitter that Kurvink had died.

Champions

Kurvink and Palm were champion sailors. The duo won the Canadian National Championships, held on Guelph Lake, in August. Kurvink was also a musician and a member of the Guelph-based band, Tamarack.

SnipeToday, a site for people who sail snipe boats – which are a two-person racing dinghy – offered prayers to the couple and their family on its Facebook page.

"The Guelph Snipe Fleet has done so well because of the hard work of both of them," the message said.

'Lived life large'

Guelph councillor and musician James Gordon knew Kurvink for close to 40 years as bandmates in Tamarack.

"She was a very dynamic performer and seemed to bring always a lot of spirit to a performance," Gordon said.

She was known as a punk and rock musician and a pioneer as a female bass player.

"Her greatest lasting gift would be as a song interpreter. She was a song writer, but it was always an honour, I wrote quite a number of songs that she sang the lead on and she always seemed to be able to sell it, to communicate that story to people," Gordon said.

Gordon saw Kurvink earlier this week when she brought her grandson over to his house to drop off Christmas cookies. He said she recently had heart surgery and battled cancer.

"I think Molly was known as someone who lived life large. She really was a little bit larger than life," Gordon said. "When Molly was around, there was always a sense of fun and a sense of play and she brought that to whatever she did, too."