This is a simple tribute to a great and wonderful woman -- a terrific actress, a loving wife, a spectacularly "human" Mother, a creative and hardworking problem solver, a one-in-a-million student, an influential and beautiful artist, a compassionate and giving human being, a true heart among many that are false, a friend without end. Nancy Nixon was all of those things and one helluva lot more.
She so loved her family, her husband David, and theatre that she managed to intertwine all of them together into a life that truly mattered to everyone she met or worked with. St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte was richer for her membership and participation. Charlotte, NC was a more cultured and fun place for the humor and deft portrayals she brought to its stages. I was in awe of her patient sense of invention, her hard work, her wonderfully patient humanity. If she had not been married and the Mother of such a fine family (4 beautiful, talented daughters and 1 able and successful son) I would have been proud to have been her life-partner.
As it was -- we were friends, colleagues, co-workers, student-teacher (in both directions), and understanding listeners. Nancy navigated all her in-laws, her friends, and her acquaintances with a sense of ease and giving -- never sacrificing one relationship for another, never shortchanging anyone of her help or company.
When she died all of me wept. My insides were incapable of reacting -- I retched and fought to stay connected with my own life. It was only she -- and my memory of our last conversation on the phone -- that kept me alive, and still wanting to live. She was the one person in my life who taught me the first and last lesson about life and death --acceptance.
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