The following was written by Jon Forsyth in 1985 for the 1984-85 Young Ambassador yearbook. He passed away in October 1984 while director of the Young Ambassadors.

Dee R. Winterton was born July 25, 1936 in Provo, Utah, and grew up on a farm in northeastern Utah. He enjoyed dance, and one day realized that he wanted to go into dance, as unlikely as it seemed for a small-town Utah farm boy.

Studying dance at the University of Utah, he received a Bachelor's degree and a Master's of Fine Arts. He performed with the Repertory Dance Theater for two years and with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company for eight years.

In 1968, he came to Brigham Young University as a dance instructor. He became coordinator of the dance department and helped form BYU's modern dance troupe, The Dancers' Company. He is also credited with choreographing most of the BYU musicals put on during his time at BYU. From 1981 until the time of his passing on October 14, 1984, he was a director of one of the BYU Young Ambassador performing groups, as well as chief choreographer for both YA groups, and co-director of the annual BYU Homecoming Spectacular. In the Fall of 1984 he also became the choreographic director for BYU's Lamanite Generation.

During his stay at BYU, he was also director of the Sundance Summer Theater for ten years, and the Summer Theater at Jackson Hole, Wyoming for three years. In addition, he was creative movement specialist for the Artists in School program for the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1984, he received the Mutual Trust Life Insurance Company Policy Good Citizenship Award.

His choreography was simple and straightforward, with even rhythms and clean movements. Nevertheless, his dances were exciting and entertaining. He had a talent for finding the movement to fit the music and reach the audience.

Although he was successful as a dancer, his greatest talent was with people. Through his choreography, he worked directly with hundreds of youth and adults, and had a particular talent for working with young people. Theron H. Luke, columnist for the Deseret News and father of one of Dee's Sundance pupils, said the following about Dee's effect on people:

Dee Winterton enabled every young person who ever worked with him to see—and touch—the stars. And the process went one step further—he showed them how to bring the stars down for their audiences to see.

He had that extra touch that demanded their best, plus his quiet genius that made their best always a little better.

Performers knew it. Audiences could sense it. It was Dee Winterton's gift to them, although many in the audience never knew its source. And he never worried whether they knew or not. He was one of those truly humble people to whom only results mattered, not the credit.

As he choreographed scores of numbers and productions, he tried to bring out the best within people. He would push those with whom he worked to their limit, and as long as they gave him their best efforts, he returned with an incredible amount of dedication and energy. He treated his dancers like professionals, and expected them to act like professionals, even though most those he worked with were semi-professionals and amateurs.

His dancing and choreography were not only ways to express himself—it was a way of helping and bringing joy to others. As he himself once said, "Helping other is the most important thing. The only things we ever take with us are the things we've done for others."

Those who knew him and worked with him would agree that he took a lot with him.

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