JOCELYN CLAIRE WINKLESS

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JOCELYN CLAIRE WINKLESS Jocelyn Claire Winkless, née Hooper, passed away quietly, with her husband at her side, at the Health Sciences Centre on Thursday, August 7, 2008, aged 65. She will be sadly missed by husband, Philip; sons Kevyn and Andrew; and mother Bernice, age 89, of Newport, Gwent, UK. Jocelyn was the only child of the late Wilfred Hooper and Bernice Hooper, both prominently active in amateur swimming in Wales during the period 1950 to 1976. Jocelyn, too, took up swimming, and won her first Welsh Championship medal for Diving in 1951. Every year thereafter, until 1968, she won medals in one Freestyle event or another. As well, Jocelyn represented Wales in international competition every year from 1956 to 1968, earning her place on the Welsh team for both the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games. Amid all this athletic activity, Jocelyn found time to graduate in Geology, Magna cum Laude, from the University of Wales in 1964. After a year of research in that subject, she moved to University College of Wales Aberystwyth, taking a Diploma in Education and College Certificate in Physical Education. She started her teaching career in her home town of Newport, Gwent, in September 1966. Jocelyn and her husband came to Manitoba in August 1968, moving to teach in Grand Rapids for several years; later teaching at Gillam, Melita, Flin Flon and Reston, where she finished her teaching career. In spite of what some thought, she did have a specialty: she spent her entire career teaching Grade 8, an assignment not for the faint-hearted. Since retirement at the end of 2003, Jocelyn lived in St Norbert and returned to her first love, swimming. She was to be found at the Margaret Grant Pool six times per week, most weeks, over the last few years. If not there, then at the PanAm pool, making lap swimming look easy. Friends, colleagues and former students should remember Jocelyn for her strength of personality and ready sense of humor. She will be sorely missed. The family would like to thank the staff of the HSC Intensive Care Units for their dedicated, professional and compassionate care of Jocelyn. A funeral service will be held for Jocelyn on Thursday, August 14 at 3:00 p.m. in Thomson In the Park Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd, Winnipeg, at 3:00 p.m. Those who wish may pay their respects during the hour before the service. Her ashes will be interred in Thomson In the Park cemetery at a later date. There will be a reception at the funeral home after the service. If friends so desire, they may make memorial contributions to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba, or their province or nation of residence. THOMSON IN THE PARK 925-1120 Send expressions of sympathy to www.mem.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 12, 2008