Mary Lou Petty learned to swim on a lake that sat next to her parents cabin near Spokane, Washington. She began swimming competitively at age 13, and later joined the Washington Athletic Club, where she trained for the 1936 Olympics. In 1935 and 1936 she swam on the AAU champion team for Washington AC in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. In 1936 Petty won the AAU indoors at both 220 yards and 500 yards freestyle. After the Olympics she was met in New York by Robert Skok, her boyfriend. They married and returned to Spokane, where he started an optometry practice, and they raised two children. During World War II Mary Lou Petty-Skok worked building wings for the Hudson bomber as her part of the war effort. After their retirement they settled in Tempe, Arizona.
United States