Nancy Pettigrew Moser

July 29, 1915 - January 23, 2020

Nancy Pettigrew Moser was born in San Francisco in 1915 to adoring parents, Percy Pettigrew and Laura Doe Pettigrew. When as a child she contracted tuberculosis, the family moved to Palo Alto on doctors’ advice. She attended Castilleja School and then Stanford University, where she met lifelong friends Fritzie Kolster Michaels, Janet Richter Sullivan, and Joan Brandel Bowen. In the chemistry lab she also met her future husband, James Stuart Moser. They were married in 1938 and had three children, James, Sally, and Robert.

At the end of the war, she made a long and perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean on a munitions ship with her two small children to reunite with her husband on Bahrain Island, where he was working for Standard Oil.

After the war, they moved their young family to Walnut Grove, California, to join the family farming business, Darsie, Hutchinson & Pettigrew. She has lived in that community for 73 years. Her greatest heartbreaks were the death of her second child, Jimmy, at the age of 32, and the death of her husband 21 years before her. Family was her most treasured priority and feeding people exquisite meals was her favorite way to care for her many friends and loved ones. She was a civic leader and helped found the local Dr. Paul Barnes Community Park. She had a passion for books and started the Great Books chapter in Walnut Grove, and it remains one of the longest-running such groups in the country.

She is survived by two children, Sally Small and Robert Moser; seven grandchildren, John Small, Laura Moser, Mary Small, Rob Moser, Nancy Moser Abou-Samra, Kate Moser, and Sarah Moser; and eight great-grandchildren, James, Samantha, Jonah, Ana Kristina, Lucy, Clayton, Lionel and Regina. She died peacefully at home on January 23, with her family beside her and listening to favorite songs. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Walnut Grove Community Church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Dr. Paul Barnes Community Park, P.O. Box 1122, Walnut Grove, CA 95690, or to the Walnut Grove Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 41, Walnut Grove, CA 95690.