February 17, 1931 - May 9, 2025
In loving memory ~
Nancy died peacefully on a beautiful spring morning looking at the calm waters of Okanagan Lake. She was surrounded by her four children.
Nancy was predeceased by her parents Nellie (Sweet) and John DeVenney and her siblings John, Phil, Jim, Patricia and Alan. She is survived by her children Hugh (Chris), Margot Gagne (Roger), Alec, and Sheilah Swanberg (Dean), her grandchildren Christine, Emily, Erin, Jessica, Robin, Lindsay, and Amy, her great-grandchildren Abigail and Emilia as well as her brother Bob DeVenney.
Nancy was born in Windsor Forks, Nova Scotia and grew up there on the family farm. Her childhood days were spent playing and working on the farm with her six siblings and travelling by horse and buggy to school. Nancy trained as a nurse at Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, NS and won the gold medal upon her graduation by achieving the best scores on the nursing exams in the Atlantic provinces.
Nancy married in 1955 and her first two children soon followed. She and her family moved by car to Summerland, BC in 1960. Two more children arrived, meaning Nancy was busy raising her four children as well as a dog, multiple cats, horses, and the odd sheep and steers. Life in Summerland was grand spending summers in the family's cabin at Okanagan Lake and winters skiing at Apex. Nancy returned to her nursing career in the 70's as a public health nurse. She thrived in this role and reportedly had a talent for calming her patients young and old when administering shots.
Following her retirement from nursing, Nancy cofounded the Carousel store, now called Carousel Collectables. Nancy was a collector! Her years growing up on the farm taught her the value of thrift whether it was furniture, silver, China, or what-have-you. Nancy had it all, collected it all and sold it all. She worked at the Carousel until the age of 92.
Nancy was a well-respected community member in Summerland. She made the best marmalade and raspberry jam in the world and her apple pies weren't bad either. Her garden was her passion, her pride and her life's labor.
She treasured her visits to Nova Scotia to see family and friends and will return there this summer to lie next to her parents and siblings and other family members at her family's gravesite in the Redden Valley Cemetery on her family's farm.
A celebration of Nancy's life will be held on June 14 at the Summerland Legion.
In lieu of flowers, Nancy asked everyone to donate the contents of their house to the Summerland Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop or make a financial donation to the Canadian Cancer Society.
Service Details
1:00 PM