A well-known, successful and ageless local figure skating coach has passed away.
Joan Wilkes, passed away peacefully in her favourite chair with family by her side on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024.
She was 94.
Wilkes spent decades coaching North Bay Figure Skaters. She was given an award for 65 years of coaching service with the North Bay Figure Skating Club back in 2018.
She was also inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.
"She had many accomplishments in her figure skating career both personally and professionally," her obituary stated.
"She was a coach and mentor to many skaters over her 65+ years of coaching. She lived a full and vibrant life right up to the end and will be missed by many. No one that we know had her energy, commitment and zest for life and her sport."
Looking back over her career, Wilkes felt she got as much out of skating as she gave.
“Very much so. I just love it and I’ve always said when it becomes a job I will quit, but it is not a job yet,” she told BayToday's Linda Holmes during a 2018 interview.
A celebration of life will be held in the Hall of Fame Room at Memorial Gardens on Friday, Dec. 13 from 1-4 p.m.
See her obituary HERE.
