Ninette Ste.Claire, June 7, 1928 – December 2, 2016

Family and friends celebrate the full and rich life of Ninette Ste.Claire, mother, grandmother, and friend. She passed peacefully on December 2, 2016, in Ocala; she was 88 years young. She died just after her daily swim in the Rainbow River, a river on which she lived for decades.

Ninette was the only child of Roland and Corinne Nebil, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on June 7, 1928. She started her professional career as an actress, a graduate of the New York Academy of Arts. An acting role brought her to Florida in the early 1950s where she met her beloved husband and father of her three children, Denver Simone Ste.Claire.

She was a dedicated educator and served as an English and French teacher at Osceola Middle School and other Marion County Schools, and later as a guidance counselor. She received her undergraduate degrees and a M.A. in counseling from the University of Florida.

For over two decades of summers, she touched many young lives at the Youth Conservation Camp where she served as program and waterfront director, among other positions. She worked side by side with her husband and YCC founder, Denver Ste.Claire, to establish the camp in the mid-1950s. Today, the camp is one of the most successful outdoor & conservation education programs in the nation.

After retirement, Ninette ventured into holistic medicine and physical therapy, becoming a licensed massage therapist. She traveled to China, the Bahamas and other countries to learn specialized therapy techniques, acupuncture and the healing arts. She was a practicing massage therapist in Dunnellon, as well as a member of and prayer chaplain with the Unity Church of Citrus County and the Unity Church of Ocala. Widowed, she married long-time companion Wilmont George in the late 1970s.

She traveled the world, sharing her spirit in Kenya, Africa, Turkey, Greece, France, Italy, and Switzerland, among other countries. As a teacher, she developed a European travel program, escorting dozens of her students to study abroad. She was an active member of the Humane Society and several organizations dedicated to preserving Rainbow River and the Florida environment.

Ninette is survived by her three children, sons Denver Ste.Claire, of Port Orange, Florida and Dana Ste.Claire of Ponte Vedra, Florida; and daughter Karen Ste.Claire Spicer of Daytona Beach; five grandchildren, Matthew Ste.Claire of Port Orange, Kelsey Spicer of Oxnard, California, Casey Ste.Claire of Berkeley, California, Saneh Ste.Claire of Gainesville, Florida, and Ashlyn Ste.Claire of Port Orange; and two loving daughters-in-law, Carol Ste.Claire (Dana) and Brenda Ste.Claire (Denver).

A celebration of Ninette’s life will be held at the Unity Church of Citrus County, Lecanto, on Saturday, December 17, at 2 p.m. The Reverend Marciah McCartney will be presiding. In lieu of flowers the family prefers  memorial contributions be made to either the Marion County Humane Society, or the Unity Church of Citrus County, where the service will be held.