STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The figure skating community opened up about losing one of their beloved members, Jessica Melton.
Melton was 42 years old when she was killed in a plane crash in Steamboat Springs on Monday, June 17. Dan Dunn, 67, also died in the crash. The small plane came down Monday in a mobile home park, lighting two homes and outbuildings on fire.
“She started as a young girl, watching her become a beautiful young figure skater, loving the sport,” said Cindy Sullivan, the director of figure skating at the Ice Centre at the Promenade.
From the beginning, Sullivan knew Melton was bound for big things, and eventually hired her as a coach. Melton would later move to the official side of figure skating as a technical specialist, but that was volunteer work.
“She's also a very successful businesswoman in a dominated construction business of working with not a lot of women,” Sullivan said.
Jessica Melton remembered after plane crash
Cindy says Jessica was on her way to a business meeting in Utah, when Cindy got the gut-wrenching news.
“We've had these plane crashes and it's just unthinkable that you actually know someone,” Sullivan said.
This crash in Steamboat Springs marks the third small plane crash in Colorado in less than two weeks. The first was in Arvada on June 7th, 2024. The second was in Larkspur on June 16th, 2024.
Sullivan said Jessica and Dan were heading to a business meeting together in Ogden, Utah.
“First, I think it's disbelief,” Sullivan said. “She is irreplaceable for us. It's such a void for us.”
Her loved ones already miss seeing her bright smile on the ice.
“We all had an opportunity for her to be in our lives,” Sullivan said. “That's the absolute best thing that we have to take away from it.”
Jessica's personality and work ethic will live on through everyone she touched.
“This is a sport that takes discipline,” Sullivan said. “The discipline that she carried in her life brought so much success in her life, but she wanted to make a difference. And she made a difference. And we will carry that out forward because we will not let that go.”
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