obituaries DEE


Wilma Georgia


Dee, who taught fig- ure skating for more than six decades, passed away July 31, 2014. She was 87. Mrs. Dee start-


ed skating at age 12 and spent the next 75 years on the ice, teaching in Montreal and Buffalo, N.Y. During this time she impacted thousands of aspiring young skaters. She be- lieved that skating skills and life skills were in- separable. “Any great skater has skills that would allow


them to succeed at anything,” she once said. From Olympic gold medalists to the casu-


al recreational skater, she saw figure skating as teaching the most important life lessons. “Falling is part of life.”


“You are being


judged every day, so always present your best.” “If you have discipline and are willing to make the effort, your dreams will turn to reality,” and “We are all unique, so develop your own style, personality and character,” were lessons she taught equally for the ice and life. Up until last year she put her skates on to


teach, sharing her love for skating with all of her students. Wilma met her husband in the Olympic


Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. He asked her to marry him two dates later. They had a wonderful life to- gether, which was largely centered around their family and skating. She always loved Lake Placid. While teaching in Buffalo, she would get up


at 5 a.m. in the winter to drive to an ice skating rink.


“You really had to love what you were do-


ing, and Mom sure did,” her son Michael said. “Give her five minutes and she’d take an hour telling you why figure skating is the world’s greatest sport. Even in her last days she was writ- ing an article on all that she and her sister had learned in their combined 148 years of skating.” A world traveler, she easily made friends;


from the housekeeper in Bali to CEOs in Singa- pore, from artists in Colorado to college stu- dents in Philadelphia, Wilma shared her energy, compassion and wisdom with all who crossed her path.


She adored her four grandchildren, nieces


and nephews. She was all-in when it came to family.


She is survived by her daughter, Anne Fran- memorial fund


“IN MEMORY OF” Janet Booth-Petznick Anonymous Katherine Brown Betsey Lawrence and Daniel Dittrick Pavilion Skating Club


Maryon Kirschenbaum Diana Driscoll Claudia Miller (Werner) SRC Skaters Madison Victoria Pearce Triangle Figure Skating Club


“IN HONOR OF” Janet Booth-Petznick Diana Driscoll Lexie Kastner St. Paul Figure Skating Club Lloyd Silverman Patricia Creed Smith


“GENERAL” Winton E. Matthews, Jr. Gerald and Leah Walker Rodney Windsor Toni Scherzer


HOLT F. Sheppard Holt, 94, member of The Skat-


ing Club of Boston for 65 years, resident of Bed- ford Mass., and Clayton, N.Y., died on July 19, 2014.


Shep was born July 12, 1920, in Chevy


Chase, Md. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Kenyon College in 1941 and a Ph.D. in mathematics at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology (MIT) in 1950. He married Emily Wright in 1949. Emily,


already an ice dancer, enticed Shep to join her on the ice. As ice dancing partners, they were the New England junior ice dance champions in 1952, but were best known for performing in “Ice Chips,” the annual show of The Skating Club of Boston, for 60 consecutive years. The “Spirit of Ice Chips Award” was created in their honor and is given annually to individuals who have shown exceptional commitment to The Skating Club of Boston and “Ice Chips.” From 1942 to 1943 he was a research associ-


ate at the MIT radiation lab in Cambridge, Mass. A professor of mathematics at Tufts University for 30 years, he also worked as a civilian at the Air Force Cambridge Research Labs at Hanscom Field, where he contributed to the design of the


ces Dee; her son, Michael Edward Dee, his wife, Shelly, and their four children, Matthew Edward, Christopher Michael, David Roney and Diana Bao Wen; and her sister, Frances Duroure. In lieu of flowers the family requests


donations be made in her name to Spe- cial Olympics, which may be made online at www.memorial-donations.org. Her daughter Anne, who has Down syn-


drome, has been a competitor in Special Olym- pics for more than 35 years, and thus Wilma saw directly how Special Olympics changed the life of her daughter. She deeply believed in Special Olympics’ mission to improve lives and enhance the dignity of special athletes around the world.


world’s largest single dish radio telescope in Are- cibo, Puerto Rico. During World War II, he was a Naval lieu-


tenant serving in the South Pacific as radar offi- cer on the USS Sealion II, the only Allied subma- rine to sink an enemy battleship. When not on the ice, Shep was on a court.


In 1977 he won the national squash champi- onship in the over-55 category. Other interests were golf, billiards, shuffleboard and catamaran sailing with Emily on their beloved St. Lawrence River.


Sheppard is survived by Emily, his wife of


65 years; daughter Caroline and husband Ken Larson of Bedford, Mass; son Craig Holt and wife Elaine of Marlborough, Mass; daughter Alison of New York City; and five grandchildren. The family requests that donations be sent


to The Skating Club of Boston to dedicate a seat in its new arena. Send to: SCOB, 1240 Soldiers Field Road, Brighton, MA 02135.


SELLS Margaret Sells, who enjoyed a longtime


passion for ice skating, passed away on Sept. 9 in Richardson, Texas. She was 88. In a 1958 SKATING magazine story, she’s


featured with her daughter in the Children’s Cor- ner: This is Sandi Anne Sells saying ‘hello!’ I am 8 years old and busy working on my first test, and all my jumps and spins. Someday I will be a champi- on. Here I am with my mommy. We did a number together in our club show. It was great fun. My daddy and my 3-year-old brother both skate, too. Goodbye for now. — Sandi Sells” Margaret grew up in Blackpool, England,


where she resided for 18 years. She worked as a secretary during World War II at the same army base that Rex, her soon-to-be husband, was sta- tioned. They met at a dance where he was play- ing his trumpet in a Big Band, and it was love at first sight. After the war, Margaret and Rex came to


Dallas. Margaret’s first love was her family, and second was ice skating. She was very involved in both ice dancing and judging for over 25 years. She could be described as feisty, opinionat-


ed, fun, loving and a princess who loved to shop. She was a loving wife, mother and grandmother who will be truly missed. Margaret is survived by daughter Sandi


Sells Meyers and husband Bob; daughter Trudi Sells; son Rex Sells III and wife Connie; grandchil- dren Cameron Sells and wife Jackie and Grace Lee Sells; sister-in-law Myra Nugent; nephews Jeremy and Michael Haworth and Michael Nu- gent.


SKATING 61


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