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Ted Blaschke, Atlanta Branch
Rebecca Sager
April 18, 2013, 6:17 p.m. (Message 63965)
Sadly, I need to add to this week's list of losses in the U.S. SCD
community. Ted Blaschke passed away on Saturday morning, April 13th,
He was 80 years old and had been in declining health for the past
couple of years.
Ted and his wife Marilyn introduced SCD to this area when they moved
here from Boston in the 60's. Both earned their teachers' certificates
in the early 70's and were the teachers needed to found the Branch in
1976, when it was the only RSCDS Branch south of Washington DC.
With Betty Lee Barnes and her husband, Duard, Ted and Marilyn
conceived and initiated Thistle School, a weeklong immersion in
classes and dances in Banner Elk, NC, which culminates every year
(2013 is the 33rd year) in the Grandfather Mountain Gala on Friday
night, followed by the Games.
In the years since, Ted was best known and loved as the teacher of our
Monday Night Class ( the inspiration for his dance Monday Madness) and
as a teacher of workshops in this country, but he also traveled widely
because of his career in engineering and danced and taught in places
as disparate as Brazil, Italy and Japan.
A Memorial Service will be held in Conyers, GA on Saturday, April 27th
and donations in memory of Ted may be made to the University of North
Georgia, Gretchen Anne Blaschke Scholarship Fund, PO Box 1599,
Dahlonega, GA 30533.
Becky Sager
Marietta GA USA
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about
learning how to dance in the rain." Vivian Greene
Oh, dear. Ted was my first teacher when I moved to San Diego after college. Besides the fundamentals of dancing, he taught (by example) to balance technique, choreography, fun and sociability. And when I called on him decades later with a scientific question, he taught me some things about traffic engineering, too. This is very sad. -Bruce