Nancy D. Waxter, clothing store designer

Nancy D. Waxter, who was a Towson clothing store designer and later co-owner of a catering business, died Thursday of heart failure at the Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson. She was 91.

The daughter of Edwin Adams Daniels, president of the SherwinWilliams Paint Co., and Frances Aull Daniels, a homemaker, Nancy Daniels was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, where she graduated from Oakwood High School.

She attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and in 1949 married Arthur Lee Shreve Waxter, whom she had met while vacationing with her family in Ocean City.

Her husband’s family owned the Plimhimmon Hotel at Second Street and the boardwalk.

As newlyweds, they settled in Bolton Hill and subsequently lived in Roland Park and Towson. In 1972, they moved to Easton.

Mrs. Waxter was a display designer for The Clothes Line, a Towson dress shop on West Pennsylvania Avenue. During the late 1960s, she and a friend, Nancy Warner, were co-owners of N&WCatering.

An avid gardener, she raised many vegetables and herbs, and her gardens in Ruxton and Easton were often visited by garden clubs. She was a member of the Easton Garden Club.

She was “a consummate hostess,” said Dorsey Ayres Waxter, her daughter, who lives in New York City.

Her daughter said Mrs. Waxter also enjoyed arranging “intimate dinner parties, which she prepared completely by herself.” She also organized an annual crab feast that celebrated her husband’s birthday .

Her husband, a Towson and Bolton Hill real estate developer who was a former Maryland Arts Council chairman, died in 2013.

In 2014, Mrs. Waxter moved to Blakehurst. She enjoyed reading historical novels. She also loved her corgis.

She was a communicant of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore and All Faith Chapel Episcopal Church, 26281 Tunis Mills Road, Easton, where a memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Waxter is survived by a son, Arthur Lee Shreve Waxter Jr. of Columbia.