Words…are her first love. They work with her, they play with her; they begin and end her day. Nancy is a poet, a writer, a columnist, a proofreader and editor, as well as a word puzzle (crosswords and double crostics) addict (once she has started a puzzle, she cannot put it down until it is finished).

Although Nancy has been in love with words her entire life, her official career with them began late. After raising a family, she returned to college at the ripe old age of 36, earning her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, then her Master’s degree from Simmons College. This led her to teaching in a wide variety of fields; first in high schools in Massachusetts, until she moved to Maine in 1972, where she started in another high school position.

During her time there, Nancy discovered Carrabassett Valley, and skiing at Sugarloaf. Another love, this time of a region. She had to have a place nearby. She bought a piece of land, she left her high school job, and moved into the yurt she built as her home. She found a position with an adult remedial program, where she tutored for several years, until the director of that program passed away. She took over her former director’s job at the University of Maine, Farmington, teaching freshman composition and Nancy found a job as a local reporter for the Waterville Sentinel (this was the beginning of her newspaper career).

Family necessity forced her to move back to the coast, where she stumbled into a reporting job for SCSEP (Senior Citizens’ Supplementary Employment Program); this, in turn, led her to freelancing with the Lincoln County News, for which she now writes a weekly column, as well as theater and music reviews and interviews with some of the local, creative people.

While living in the yurt, Nancy wrote a libretto based on Beowulf; she found a composer, Charlie Bechler, in Waldoboro; they produced the musical at the Waldo Theater in 2005.

In her earlier life, Nancy spent a considerable amount of time on the ocean, admittedly in stink-potters; she was, however, the family navigator; she brought their boat, the Fundy, down to Cohasset from New Brunswick; she helped her stepson deliver his first lobster boat, built in Jonesport; and she and her son delivered a 20-footer from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to Cohasset. Today, she would still rather go for a boat ride than do almost anything else.

You can contact Nancy at purpleyurts38@yahoo.com.

Below: Experts from Nancy's libretto based on Beowulf.

Please click to images to enlarge.