Nancy N. Van Metre - Obituary

ancy Norwood (Nichols) Van Metre, (1938-2024). Nancy was born on January 11, 1938, to Ruth Landers (Johnson) Nichols and William Hart Nichols in Weston, Massachusetts. A prankster, a girl scout, a camper, an athlete, an animal lover, a gardener, and an adventurer, she grew up outdoors, roughhousing with the family goats; playing practical jokes on her much older siblings, Bill and Betsy; palling around with her cousin Pete and best friend, Sue; and riding her industrialist grandfather’s miniature train, the Ella Cinders. As a teen she cycled the Canadian Rockies and the Swiss Alps with a girl group. On the former trip, she was chased down a hill by a grizzly bear and, just as the road rose again, made her getaway when a red sports car heroically zipped between girl and bear. She majored in math at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. She loved numbers and puzzles. Her college roommates and lifelong friends, Trudy and BJ, report that she got so frustrated writing English essays that when one called for footnotes, she threw the pages on the ground, took off her shoes, and hopped all over the papers, yelling “I’m making footnotes!” She graduated in 1960 and married the love of her life, Lt. James “Jim” Merle Van Metre, that same year. She traded a bucolic New England childhood for decades of adventure as a Navy wife, organizing more than a dozen moves for a growing family, hosting countless dinners and parties, and supporting the wives and partners of the officers with whom Jim served. As a captain’s wife she was known to check in on the ship’s wives weekly when the submarine was at sea, typically for a two-month tour. As busy as the Navy kept her, she made time to lead girl scout troops, plant gardens, sew clothes for her four kids (matching outfits!), sing in church choirs, plan backyard birthday parties, fundraise for her college, master crosswords and sudoku, and supervise math homework (sadly her math gene failed to activate in her children, lighting up instead in a few lucky grandchildren). When her kids were older, she took a job as a college and career counselor at Mount Vernon High School in Virginia, creating the school’s first career center. This work filled her with great pride and satisfaction. Nancy was a doer and a helper. Helping young people, either to find their path or navigate a difficult period of life, was her particular calling. She also trained to be a Stephen minister with this goal in mind. Nancy retired in 1992 and the high school named the career center for her. She and Jim enjoyed a long retirement together, travelling with their beloved Pippa group and dear friends, Jack and Mary; serving as leaders in their church and in their colleges’ alumni(ae) associations; and spending as much time as they could on Kezar Lake, in Maine, and at Capon Springs & Farms, a resort in West Virginia. They have many good friends in both places. Nancy died of the effects of dementia on December 13, 2024, at Ginger Cove Retirement Community in Annapolis, Maryland, where she and Jim moved in 2017. With all she lost to the disease, she never lost her wonderful smile, a smile that could warm any heart, light any room. A smile so memorable that almost every kind condolence her family has received includes mention of it. Her family thinks it is somehow fitting, though also impossibly sad, to lose Nancy at Christmastime. It was her favorite season. She seemingly owned an infinite number of Christmas sweaters, some of which she had knit herself and which she (eek!) sometimes wore seasonally inappropriately. She had a truly epic Christmas card list. She loved singing the Christmas cantata, in her very low alto, every year at her beloved Washington Farm United Methodist Church. She could bang out a mean Christmas carol on the piano. She needlepointed stockings for every family member and was famous for her Christmas Eve lasagna. (No one needs to know that she, a New Englander, made it with cottage cheese.) Nancy was one of those great humans who accomplishes so much without ever seeking praise or fame. She believed in service but was no saint. She was rascally and silly and stubborn and reticent. She could even, occasionally, show her temper when Jim had been away at sea too long and their kids were reenacting scenes from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. (Beware the red-handled spatula!). She was preceded in death by her parents, Ruth and Hart; her brother, Bill; and sister, Betsy. She is survived by her husband, Jim; her children, Lauren, Carolyn, Susan, and Steven; their spouses, Peter, Jon, Pete, and Bonnie. And ten (perfect!) grandchildren: Lindsay, Audrey, Analise, Sidney, Abigail, Nicola, Olivia, Gabriella, Jacob, and Perrin. Nancy adored her nieces and nephews: Nancy and Jeff Galvin, Judy Paul, Billy and Susie Nichols. Nancy G. and Nancy V. had a particularly close and loving friendship. Her family would like to give special thanks to the staff and residents of Baxter Home Health Care Services and Ginger Cove for making her last days warm and comfortable. Family and friends are invited to celebrate Nancy’s life on Saturday, January 11 at 11 am at Calvary United Methodist Church, 301 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Girl Scouts of America.