A consummate master of moderation in all things.
Nancy Hill Peck, died, March 20, 2024, at Bay Square in Yarmouth, where she had lived comfortably for the last three years after raising her family in Needham, MA and then, relocating to Yarmouth, ME in 1983. She will be deeply missed by her family, including her three children, Susan Peck, Stephen Peck and Matthew Peck; and their respective spouses, Philip Coffin, Jackie Peck and Kim Peck; as well as her grandchildren and their spouses, Rachel Coffin (Mark Murphy), Julia Coffin (Glenn Barnes), Emma Coffin (Merritt Logan), Katie Peck,
Sam Peck and Elizabeth Peck; and her great-grandchildren, Grace and Maeve Barnes, Colin Murphy and Augusta Logan; and her chosen family through the MIT host program, Angie, Boris, Cathy and Sydney Chen.
Nancy was born in 1928, on April Fools Day, in Boston and lived the first few years of her life in Newton, MA with her parents, who were married after a whirlwind romance on a riverboat on the Mississippi River. Following their divorce, she and her mother and sisters moved to Orient, NY, where they lived with her mother’s parents on their thriving farm. Orient and its stone beaches held a special place in her heart and she shared that love with her own family on various visits to see her sister, Pat, who stayed in Orient. She will be Buried with her family and many ancestors in Orient.
She graduated from Wellesley High School while living with her father and stepmother and she spent many summers sailing with her father. She graduated from Stevens Junior College and ultimately received a bachelor’s degree from BU and certification in Occupational Therapy from Tufts University. She proudly worked in VA Hospitals for a few years before she married Robert Peck in December 1952, a scant four months after they met on a blind date. They were best friends and together for almost 50 years until he died in 2012. When asked why she married Bob, she would say “I knew I would have an interesting life with him.” His friends might say she lived a life enjoying his love of a good argument, a strong opinion and desire to master every task he tackled. She would say she was a rebel who elected to marry someone who was her opposite in temperament, rather than the quiet minister to whom she had previously been engaged.
Her children remember her for being very accepting of their successes, as well as their flaws and misdeeds and expecting them to be responsible for the consequences of both their good and bad decisions. She found satisfaction in volunteering her time, as a girl scout leader, a campfire girls leader for children with developmental disabilities and a cook and delivery person for many years with Meals on Wheels, in Cumberland County. She knew how to “live in the moment” before it was a thing, even when her children were small, she shopped every day with them for dinner, preferring to decide that day what she felt like cooking for dinner rather than plan ahead. As recently as a month ago, she said she had not given any thought to dying, better to enjoy living each day assuming life would continue forever!
Her grandchildren remember her for being their “cool” grandmother who always seemed to know what gifts they would love and experiences they could share and as the “kissy fairy” who left chocolate kisses hidden for them to find when visiting her home.
Her frugality was subtle but continuous, including washing plastic wrap for reuse, mixing powdered milk with regular milk and teaching her children to always turn off the lights when they left a room.
At her request, family will gather in Orient to remember her and per her instructions, will “say a few wonderful! words about” her, sometime in the future. If others want to Celebrate her Life, she would suggest you have a picnic at Bug Light, one of her favorite things to do.
Her family thanks Leah Mahoney, NP, for her thoughtful and committed care at Bay Square, as well the staff at Bay Square who Nancy appreciated every day. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Preble Street, Portland, Maine.