Jacquelyn J. Little, 78; taught figure skating to hundreds

Jacquelyn J. Little (right) with Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan (left) and Little's granddaughter Jacquelyn Sharkey.

Jacquelyn J. Little was 8 years old in 1937 when an aunt pinned $25 to her clothing so she would not lose the money to buy her first pair of ice skates. The gift lasted a lifetime.

"From that point on, figure skating was her life," said her husband, B. Gordon Little of Reading. "She loved it. I don't think anyone knew more about skating."

Mrs. Little, who died at the Visiting Nurse Hospice House on Wednesday at age 78, founded the Stoneham Figure Skating Club in 1976 and gave Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan her first figure skating lesson.

"She gave Nancy her very first performance instruction when she took a group lesson around age 6," Kerrigan's husband, Jerry Solomon, said yesterday.

Mrs. Little followed Kerrigan's career closely and treasured a recent photo taken of her and Kerrigan.

"She was so proud of Nancy. She kept a scrapbook of everything she did," her husband said.

Mrs. Little was diagnosed in June with stomach cancer, the same disease that took her mother's life when Mrs. Little was in high school, he said.

She was the youngest child and only daughter of John S. Taylor, a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow, and Jennie Belle (French) Taylor of Massachusetts. She outlived all four of her older brothers.

For more than three decades, Mrs. Little taught figure skating to hundreds of students through the Stoneham Skating Club and an arena in Woburn. With her help, the Stoneham club grew to more than 300 students with six instructors, and she had nearly 400 students in Woburn, according to her family.

In addition to figure skating, Mrs. Little enjoyed golf, tennis, and skiing.

Mrs. Little met her husband at a dance when she was attending Medford High School and he attended Stoneham High School.

"It was a Saturday night mixer. I went down and saw that little blonde and said she is going to be mine," Gordon said. "She was such a wonderful person. She was just as beautiful inside as she was on the outside."

The couple was married for 59 years. "We had a wonderful life," Gordon said.

Mrs. Little was a member of the First Congregational Church in Reading, where she served as a deacon and altar committee chairperson for many years.

She also was an active member in the Order of the Eastern Star for many years. She was chaplain of Priscilla Chapter No. 52 Order of the Eastern Star in Reading and previously led the chapter several times as worthy matron and as deputy grand matron.

She and her husband loved to travel overseas and made friends in Ireland, England, Switzerland, and Monaco.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Little leaves a daughter Dianne Sharkey of Stoneham and two granddaughters.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. today at the First Congregational Church in Reading. Burial will follow in Lindenwood Cemetery in Stoneham.