Nancy was born in Virginia Beach in 1949. As a teenager, she spent her summers working at various resort hotels when she wasn’t on the beach enjoying the sun and surf. While she loved the beach, she realized that she loved mountains even more.

Following high school graduation, she enrolled at James Madison University, where she could enjoy being surrounded by the mountains that she loved. It was during this time at JMU that she met her future husband, Larry, who was one of the first men to enroll at the university.

She graduated with a degree in political science and a minor in sociology. Being particularly enamored with education, she began her professional life as a high school government teacher. Nancy was always infatuated with the nation’s political process and its inner workings. She was a long time Republican and was inspired by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. She also valued civility, and honest intellectual discourse, and quick to point out that political leanings weren’t a reflection of one’s character, and often spoke of her admiration of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall and late Senator Patrick Moynihan.

She took a break from teaching to be a stay-at-home mom to raise her son, Nathan. She slowly integrated herself back into education, first, as a parental volunteer, then as a second grade teaching assistant. She reacquired her teaching certificate through the University of Virginia and became a second grade teacher where she spent the better part of two decades educating multiple generations of young students at the Greene County Primary School. She reflected that the reason she never went back to teaching high school was that she felt like she had more of an opportunity to make a positive impact when the kids were still young.

She retired in 2014 and spent her time reading books, mowing her lawn, admiring the mountains of Greene County, and snuggling with her grand-dogs.

Her ashes, along with the ashes of Larry, will be spread in Shenandoah National Park, where the couple would routinely hike and go on evening drives. It is hoped that those who knew them both will forever be able to remember and reflect on the lives of this amazing couple on every park visit.

En lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Nancy’s name be made to the Greene County Public Library or The Food Pantry of Greene County, Virginia.