WELLINGTON - He was a bolt of lightning on Woodstock skates. And he'd challenge anyone who dared race him.
Joseph E. "Joe Carise" Arsenault was declared World Champion Aged Skater, appearing in Ripley's Believe it or Not and the New York Daily News.
Not bad for a 92-year-old former teacher and stationmaster from Wellington.
"He must have been in good physical health and condition for his age, a phenomenon," said Earle Arsenault. "He challenged anyone in the world."
Arsenault, an amateur genealogist, recently compiled a history on the acclaimed Acadian skater known as Joe Carise.
The scrapbook documented the elderly skater's accomplishments and his genealogy, which was presented recently, along with a copy of his P.E.I. Sport Hall of Fame induction scroll, to the Community of Wellington.
Arsenault said Joe Carise's story is unique, one few Acadians know.
Born in Urbainville on Jan. 23, 1840, Joe Carise grew up skating on the frozen river near his home. With his Woodstock skates strapped to his boots, he'd often skate the three miles along the Ellis River to Sunday mass in Grand River.
Eventually, Joe Carise put his skates aside. He married twice and brought up a family. He retired from teaching in 1873 to become Wellington's first stationmaster, a job he held until 1915.
But it wasn't until the Wellington Rink opened in 1930 that Joe Carise again donned his beloved Woodstock skates.
The 90 year old, who skated an hour a day, was soon putting on exhibitions at home and on the mainland, thrilling crowds who gathered to watch him glide.
Joe Carise would skate between periods of hockey games at Summerside's Crystal Rink and started challenging anyone over 85 to take him on in a three-mile race.
Then, in 1932, at age 92, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association declared him World Champion Aged Skater.
His skating feats, comings and goings were chronicled in newspapers on P.E.I., across Canada and the U.S., and his story was featured in the syndicated column, Ripley's Believe it or Not.
Arsenault stumbled upon Joe Carise's story last year after being asked to find a permanent home for the scroll by a relative of the late skater.
"Well, if you give anything to Earle, Earle's either going to research it or do something with it," Arsenault said about his reputation. "I had pretty well all their genealogy. That was one of the families that I've done."
Arsenault plans on presenting a copy of the scrapbook to the Alberton Museum and a copy, along with the original scroll, to the Acadian Museum in Miscouche.
"It's history. You find things out and then it generates interest," he added.
About Joseph E. "Joe Carise" Arsenault
• Born Jan. 23, 1840
• First marriage in 1862 to Marie Gallant, who died in 1913
• Remarried in 1918 to Mathilde Petitpas of Shediac, N.B., widow of Capt. Benjamin Perry of Alberton
• Died Sept. 27, 1934, at age 94
• Featured in the book "By the Old Mill Stream"
• Inducted into P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame on May 29, 1983, under category of Great Stories of Island Sports
• When inducted scroll was presented to granddaughter Irene Poirier
• Arsenault's scrapbook and scroll are at Old Barlow's Mill in Wellington
