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IN MEMORIAM

TRACI BURWELL

Tracianne "TJ" Burwell, a loyal and inspirational member of the Orange Jugglers of Southern California, died February 19 at age 29.

"I am a wheel in motion on the hill of life..." is how Traci described herself in her journal. She was also a performer who played Renaissance festivals, hospitals and fairs.

Traci was a slack rope walker and unicyclist. Juggling on the six-foot unicycle was second in her heart only to climbing upon the shoulders of the nearest willing man and passing clubs. She was a five ball juggler and clown whose trademark trick was juggling and cracking jokes on the slack rope while a trained rat did tricks on her shoulder.

A professional carpenter and electrician known for her skill in framing and detailing, Traci was a master of anything she turned her hands to, always busy, always in motion. When she was not juggling she was wilderness camping with her black dog, Jake.

In 1990 Traci made a miraculous comeback after a terrible car accident that left her in a coma for several months. Doctors predicted she would never walk again, but her zest for life and love of juggling drove her rehabilitation forward, and soon she was back to three club work. She was a fighter, a laugher, an inspiration and a Great Lady Juggler.

Contributions to the Traci Burwell Memorial Fund may be sent to the Northridge United Methodist Church; Northridge CA.

WlLLIE WEINHOLDT

Willie Weinholdt, president of the IJA from 1973-74, died in Port Charlotte, Fla., Dec. 11, 1993, at age 66.

He was a native of Norway and grew up with an interest in gymnastics, weight lifting and soccer. He traveled the world in the Norwegian Merchant Marines, and met his wife, Betty, on a trip to New York in 1952. They married in Norway that year, and established permanent residence in New Jersey.

He taught hand balancing to his two sons, Eric and Tom, and helped them create an act by 1970 when they were seven and eight years old. While working out at the YMCA in Morristown at about that time, they met 1972 IJA president Ron Graham, who taught them to juggle. They purchased some Jay Green clubs and began juggling at the YMCA and at IJA get-togethers in the metropolitan New York area. They met Steve Mills at the Morristown YMCA and taught him to juggle, thereby launching another long career. Eric and Tom launched their own 10-year career as The Rito Brothers at that time with the Fantastic Flying Y's of Youngstown, Ohio.

The Weinholdts attended the 1972 and 1973 IJA conventions, and the membership elected Willy as president in 1973. The family moved to Sarasota, Fla., that year and Willy hosted the 1974 convention in a Holiday Inn there. It was the first convention for young Dick Franco, who stayed with the Weinholdt family and learned much from them.

Willy never had an act of his own, but traveled with and coached his sons in their unicycling, juggling and trampoline act. At the 1975 IJA convention in Youngstown, Ohio, Eric won the five club competition, and the Rito Brothers eventually worked for circuses throughout this country and in seven foreign nations. Willy did teach circus skills for a season at Ringling Brothers Clown College.

Willy Weinholdt continued to juggle recreationally, but was employed professionally as a stone mason for most of his career. For seven years he also owned a watch shop in Sarasota. He played tennis several hours a day in retirement, until a neurological disease began to affect his equilibrium beginning in 1987. He spent the last years of his life in a nursing home and at his home until his death in January.