Jo Ann Sapling McKee

June 14, 1935 - April 22, 2023

Born in Welland, Ontario near Niagara Falls) and always proud of her Canadian heritage, Jo Ann died peacefully on Saturday, April 22, in Moraga.

At age 14, she began a figure skating career with essons that culminated in a gold medal and a successul audition in 1957 to join he Ice Follies, the premier roupe that played in big cities in northern USA and Canada. A year later, she became a featured soloist, demonstrating her skill in entertaining her fans. Retirng at the end of 1959 in her adopted city of San Francisco, she became a figure kating teacher, bringing he sport to hundreds of children and adults in the Bay Area.

In 1960 she met and married Robert Catechi and four years later, she delivered her first child, a daughter Sandra. In 1968 after a divorce from Bob, he married Ted Sapling and ogether they moved to Moraga. A second daughter, ennifer, was born in 1970 and thus began another caeer – a volunteer classroom helper. A decade later she aunched her career of office work in Real Estate, Retail ewelry, Banking, Dentistry and Energy & Power.

In the 1980’s, following a divorce from Ted, she found ime in the evenings and weekends to join the local ong-and-dance troupe Razzmatazz.” Always the performer, in the 1990’s he put her skates back on, oining a Seniors synchronized troupe and competing uccessfully all over the country. She finally retired n 2003 when she met and married Peirce McKee after meeting him in a ballroom dancing class in Orinda. Surviving her are her daughters Sandra Chiodo (Dennis), and Jennifer Barre (Sean), two grandchildren, Annika and Rhys Barre, and her husband Peirce.

The family wishes to thank Moraga Retreat owner Ana Blaj and her devoted caregivers for providing Jo Ann comfort and dignity in her last 18 months.

A memorial service will take place at LafayetteOrinda Presbyterian Church (LOPC) on July 13 at 4:00 pm with a reception afterward at Orinda Country Club, following a private inurnment in the Kurth Memorial Garden.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jo Ann’s honor may be sent to Alzheimer’s Association (online) or Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, 5700 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland CA 94609.