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Terrace Skate Club mourns loss of a founder

Award to be renamed in Monica Lessard’s hounour
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As the Terrace Skating Club mourns the passing of Monica Lessard last month, the club has announced the Volunteer of the Year award will be renamed the ‘Monica Lessard Volunteer of the Year Memorial Award’ in her memory, and to recognize the years of volunteer time she put into the sport of figure skating in Terrace and northern BC.

After moving to Terrace from the prairies with her husband and two kids, Lessard was instrumental in pushing to have the arena built in Terrace in the early 1970s.

She is one of the founding members of the Terrace Skating Club in 1972, and went on to share her expertise and knowledge with the club for about 45 years as the TSC’s longest standing member. Lessard was involved in skating as a parent, a grandparent and as a skating judge at competitions and test days, and even trained new figure skating judges. As a TSC Board member she was eventually made an honorary lifetime member, a Cariboo North Central Region Board membe and a BC Games committee member and more.

Lessard won many awards in her life, inlacing the CNC Region Judge of the Year Award, BC/Yukon Section Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sport BC Community Hero Award.

Friends and colleagues remember her as an inspiring figure who enjoyed helping others and who served as a good role model.

“She had a passion for figure skating and will be missed by many,” said Jennifer Kuehne, TSC director of skating. “Her memory will live on through her family and through all future Terrace Skating Club members.”