Jodi Lynne Washnock, who died April 19 at age 43 in Loveland, studied at the Harvard Dance Center before a 1999 car accident left her a quadriplegic and prompted her to create a nonprofit foundation to help others with spinal-cord injuries.
She died of complications related to injuries sustained in the accident.
The foundation’s performances incorporated dancers in wheelchairs in performances that raised money for grants to help those with spinal-cord injuries.
The daughter of Ann and Bill Washnock of Loveland, she was born in Ohio and grew up in Medford, N.J. Tiny and athletic, in high school she was a cheerleader, gymnast and dancer, and she attended Harvard University’s summer dance program.
After earning a degree in business management from the University of Denver, she became a high-level sales representative for Genzyme and General Foods. She lived with her surly tomcat, Grizz, in Denver and traveled extensively in her career.
Washnock particularly enjoyed her work for Genzyme, talking to surgeons who used the company’s products for patients who needed knee replacements.
She became a quadriplegic in April 1999, when her Lexus flipped just east of the Eisenhower Tunnel. During her recovery at Craig Hospital, her fellow patients included teenagers injured in the Columbine High School rampage.
Though technically classified as a quadriplegic, Washnock could use her arms. She joined an adaptive skiing program and an adaptive swim group.
Her real passion remained in the arts, reflected in the flamboyant but wheelchair-friendly skirts and tops she wore. A year after the accident, Washnock established the Magic Dance Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising agency. The foundation received a bonanza of media attention after Washnock became Miss Wheelchair Colorado in 2002.
Most of the funds came from performances featuring “wheelchair ballet” dancers whose maneuverings were incorporated into the choreography along with able-bodied dancers. Washnock also wrote and self-published a book about her experiences.
She became a painter, joined the Thompson Valley Art League and showed her works at galleries in Loveland. Many paintings, including the evocatively tropical “Haskew Tango,” reflected her lifelong interest in dance.
Washnock drove a van adapted for a quadriplegic driver, grateful for recovering her independence. Friends and relatives knew Washnock mourned her lost independence even more than her compromised body. Before the accident, she was someone to whom friends and relatives turned for help.
“She felt helpless and useless a lot of the time,” friend Valerie Chapman said, “but after my son was diagnosed with autism, she supported me more than anyone else.”
In addition to her parents, survivors include her three sisters, Pamela Ann Washnock of Greeley, Julie Washnock of Boulder and Liz Butler of San Francisco.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
