Vance was involved in several charitable organizations. Following her husband's bout with throat cancer in the 1970s, she funded the Milton J. Dance Jr. Head and Neck Rehabilitation Center at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and was a central figure in a Palm Beach hospice.Vance's death came a little over a year after her husband's death. Her survivors include sons Robert and Mark.
Jeanne Vance, who campaigned 1999 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Lemon Drop Kid with her late husband, Fasig-Tipton auctioneer Milton "Laddie" Dance, died Dec. 14 at her Manalapan, Fla., home.Vance and Dance bought Lemon Drop Kid for $200,000 at the 1997 Keeneland September yearling. Trained by Scotty Schulhofer, the son of Kingmambo won the Futurity Stakes (gr. I) his first year of racing. His Belmont triumph ended the Triple Crown bid of Charismatic, who was injured during the race. The following year, Lemon Drop Kid was voted champion older male after several graded wins.Vance, who was raised in Detroit and started showing Saddlebreds as a teenager, met Dance at a horse show in Lexington in 1963. They married two years later. The couple operated a commercial breeding program at their Taylor's Purchase Farm near Glencoe, Md., and raced several stakes winners. They divorced later on, then remarried.
