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Young dancer never saw limitsBy GREG WILLIAMS © St. Petersburg Times, published November 19, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- Like many 10-year-olds, Katelyn Harper liked going to pop concerts and jumping rope with her friends. She realized her young life's dream of being a ballerina and even danced in Gibbs High School productions of the Nutcracker. She did all that despite a rare condition called polymyositis, a muscular disorder that prevents movement beyond a few facial expressions and a twitch of her finger, which she used to operate her electric wheelchair. "She never saw the obstacle," her father, Don, said Saturday. "She only saw the goal." Katelyn Joyce Harper died Thursday (Nov. 16, 2000) at All Children's Hospital. A respirator helped Katelyn breathe and she could only speak softly. But she never had trouble communicating with friends and family. "She had expressive eyes. You always knew what she was thinking," Katelyn's father said. Katelyn and her parents, Don and Deborah, came to St. Petersburg in 1993 from Lancaster, Pa. Katelyn was a fifth-grade honor student at Tyrone Elementary School and attended the Academy of Ballet Arts in St. Petersburg. A friend introduced Katelyn to dance teacher Suzanne Pomerantzeff, who directs and choreographs the Nutcracker at Gibbs. Katelyn auditioned in 1998 and won a part as a guest in the party scene. She also performed in the school's 1999 production and danced in a spring program there. She performed in her special wheelchair, a large bassinet-sized cart that also carried her respirator. "That was one of the things that was so beautiful," her father said. "Her friends didn't see that chair and ventilator and everything. They just saw Katelyn, just another loving person who . . . loved to do all those things, and they went out and did all those things." In addition to her parents, survivors include Katelyn's paternal grandparents, Don W. and Barbara J. Harper, both of St. Petersburg; an uncle, Forrest Harper, St. Petersburg; an aunt, Dee Fanning, Atlanta; and two cousins. Calling hours will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Brett Funeral Home, 4810 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, with a wake service at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady's Chapel at Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle, 5815 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to Tyrone Elementary School for Leah's Playground, a handicap-accessible playground. - Information from Times files was used in this obituary.
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