Rogers, Nancy Lou

Memorial Service…Benton Chapel, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 9/7/ 2000

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write; Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit. “They will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” Rev. 14:13

Gary Brock, Director of Pastoral Services Henry Arnold, Worship Minister of Otter Creek Church of Christ (retired), (Nancy Lou’s former voice coach) Hymn—“Jesus Loves Me,”

“I know That My Redeemer Lives, Nan Gurley Comments from colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center Julia Lewis, M.D., P.I., AASK Paul E. Teschan, M.D. (Emeritus) Jerry Collins, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Comments by friends from Versailles Townehomes

Association Hymn—“How Great Thou Art” Closing Comments and Benediction, Gary Brock

Selections of Piano Music Nancy Lou used to play, played by her friend, Sammye Hill

Comments by Rena Carolyn Rogers

August 1, 1934-August 1, 2000

“Wonderful Friend, Faithful to Her Task” (on the gravestone at Forest Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)

Nancy Lou was my sister, my only sibling. She was the firstborn child of Rena Cruce and Thomas Wesley Rogers. Our father witnessed her birth at Indiana University Hospital, Bloomington, Indiana, where he was on the faculty. Nancy Lou had an inquiring and busy life from day one. She had 2 ½ years of “minority rule” (one baby in a family). When I arrived December 19, 1936, she took on the task of BIG SISTER. She always thought she had to look after me and she did.

When we moved to Chicago, Illinois, we lived next to the University of Chicago. We played on the campus of the university. Our neighbors and friends were of all types (Chicago is a “melting pot”). Nancy Lou had friends of all ages in every place she had lived.

Nancy Lou and I went to Ray School, a Chicago Public School, from kindergarten through eighth grade. She was a very good student. Nancy Lou received her first chemistry set at age nine. Our parents took us to museums, art galleries, aquariums, planetariums, symphony concerts, fairs, etc.

She went to Chicago Christian High School for two years (’48-’50). She played the clarinet in the band and she sang in the chorus. She was always singing when she worked around the house.

Nancy Lou came to Ward Belmont as a junior in high school in the fall of 1950. She lived in Acklen Hall. She went to Belmont Church of Christ, where she met Mr. and Mrs. Henry O. Arnold, Jr. She made many friends in Nashville during her one year. Ward Belmont closed in June 1951. She then went to Faulkner School for Girls in Chicago where she graduated in 1952. She was well educated in mathematics and chemistry. In the fall of 1952, Nancy Lou entered Vanderbilt University, majoring in chemistry and biology and graduated in 1957. She then went on to get her master’s degree in 1968 in biochemistry.

Nancy liked the term “vicissitudes of live.” She certainly had many. I think she had much variety. She was an attentive (sometimes bossy), caring, and loving sister. She honored our parents. She loved God. She was baptized into Christ on October 22, 1946 at Cornell Avenue Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois.

Nancy Lou liked to travel. She made many trips to most of the forty-eight states and Hawaii. She went to Europe and was especially interested in seeing the Royal Copenhagen factory where the Christmas plates are made. Friends we knew in Bloomington, Indiana, gave her a collection of the blue and white Christmas plates. Each Christmas she would get a new cup and saucer and plate.

Nancy Lou planned for Christmas all year. She would buy gifts while on her trips to meetings. She bought poinsettias from the Kidney Foundation each year to give to man, many friends, and to decorate her fireplace. She also always baked bread at Christmas. At Christmas 1999, she said, “Next Christmas we will have to do something different.”

She was a gracious hostess, good cook, and generous friend. She shared her time and energy with her family, friends, and patients. To remember Nancy Lou is to remember her friends. Thank You.

I want to give special thanks and recognition to Thomas R. McDonald, III (Trey), who helped Nancy Lou care for her friend Kate Welch (who died in August1990 of liver cancer), Rena Cruce Rogers, our mother (who died June 22, 1995), and me. Trey, always a true friend, is constant in his compassionate assistance to me.

No one witnessed Nancy Lou’s death. Mohammed Sika and Sandy McLeroy came to see why Nancy Lou wasn’t at work at 6:45 am, August 2, 2000. They found her sitting on her sofa in her home. She was dead.

She actually died at 10:44 pm on August 1, 2000 (her 66th birthday). Nancy Lou was talking to her friend, Laura Braddock, in Las Vegas. When Nancy Lou became silent and the phone line cut off, Laura called Nancy Lou’s number and got voice mail. She left the message, “Nancy, we got cut off. Please call me.” Laura tried again. She felt like Nancy Lou was gone, but didn’t know what to do about it.

My last conversation with Nancy Lou was about 10:15 pm, August 1, 2000. I did what she asked: “Call me at 4:40 am. I have to be at work at 6:00 am; we are going to Huntsville and Chattanooga.” I hadn’t sent her birthday card, but she told me about the cards and calls she had received. Her last words were “I’m so tired. I’m so tired. Call me in the morning.”

Many have asked me, “How long was Nancy Lou sick?” My reply was “Off and on for many, many years. How long, only Nancy Lou knew.” She had an unusual knack for finding out about someone else’s aches and pains but seldom talked of her own. She had an ability to focus on her task.

The following poem captures the essence of Nancy Lou’s life.

Wonderful friend Caring for her sister, Faithful to her tasks: For her every need; Nancy was all Doing it all A friend could ask. With great speed.

“Let’s get it done; Faithful, yes faithful, Let’s not shirk.” To the very end; Nancy plunged right in, This was our Nancy, And was diligent in her work. Our beloved sister and friend. (Jean B. Waggener)