Nancy Wold Vait

October 8, 1948-September 21, 2022

Nancy passed peacefully on Tuesday, September 21 surrounded by her family, joining a flock of south-turning cranes.

Born in Missoula, Montana to Susan Crum Wold and Morris Wold, Nancy attended the University of Oregon and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Southern Oregon University, where she discovered her passion for education, and with a Master’s Degree in Reading from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Nancy arrived in Homer, Alaska in 1982 with her husband, Leo, and embarked on an adventure to teach in Nanwalek. Her son, Andrew, was born there in 1984, and they moved across Kachemak Bay to their forever home where she taught at McNeil Canyon Elementary School, then at Homer Middle School, Homer Flex School, and Kenai Peninsula Community College, Kachemak Bay Branch. Nancy retired in 2011 to a rich life of travel; exploring hot springs in the Lower 48 with Leo, singing in the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus, exploring new books with patrons of Homer Bookstore and in her book club, service work at the Homer Food Pantry, and participation in the spiritual community of Floating Leaf Sangha.

Nancy deeply loved her family; Leo and Andrew, her sisters, Barbara Rocheleau in Sitka and Stephanie Hadler in Denmark, their families, and her pets, Osa and CatCat.

Nancy loved her countless friends and was dearly loved by them; they surrounded her in the ever-widening circle of her life in Homer and in her passing.

Music enriched every day of Nancy’s life; whether singing in harmony with her sisters from a young age, playing the piano and clarinet, cleaning the house to Tina Turner and Annie Lennox, or listening to the beauty of Andrew’s songs and voice and the sweet sound of his many instruments.

Passionate about and fully invested in her teaching, Nancy loved her many students through the years as an elementary, middle, high school and college teacher of the Language Arts and was well-loved by them in return. As a connoisseur of words, both reading and writing, Nancy modeled this for her students and passed it on to them with intelligence, humor, and compassion. The soul and center of education for Nancy was the child; the children’s voices were heard and respected; Nancy learning as much from them as they did from her.

In all aspects of her precious life, Nancy embodied love, touching the lives of so many with her own.

Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.

A memorial for Nancy will be held at McNeil Canyon School on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 2:00 in the gym.