Obituary of Nancy Hanks Marshall

Nancy Hanks Marshall After living a long life of resilience and wit, Nancy Hanks Marshall, died in her sleep on May 2, 2015 in Tucson, Arizona. She was 93. She was born on November 25, 1921 in Hudson, Ohio to Raymond and Mary Hanks and grew up in Shaker Heights with her brother, Raymond and sister, Louise. In 1939, she graduated from Laurel School, and in 1941 she received a degree from Colby-Sawyer College. During WWII, she volunteered at University Hospital in Cleveland, making bandages for the wounded until she married John Marshall in 1943. The couple lived together in Shaker Heights where they had five children, John, Louise, Susan, George and Ed. In 1966, her husband died of a heart attack, leaving her alone with two children in college and three still at home. After two years in Ohio, she broke for Tucson, Arizona where her mother and father once owned a guest ranch, and her son, John was currently attending college at the University of Arizona. In 1972, she left to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she joined her daughter, Louise and raised her youngest son, Ed, in an adobe house in Seton Village. There she cultivated a garden, looked after the neighborhood's children, and doted on three of her five grandchildren. At once stern and playful, she was known to rap an elbow for being on the dinner table, yet she also short-sheeted her guest's beds and terrified children with a prehistoric-sized rubber fly hidden in a cigar box. Silver-haired and elegant in black, Nancy peppered her speech with French phrases and was a devious card player. She loved the Southwest, and was always looking for interesting finds as a self-described "rock hound." Nancy is survived by four of her children, John, Susan, George and Ed. Her eldest daughter, Louise died in 2013 after a long battle with cancer. She also has five grandchildren, Paul, Amanda, Lindsey, Taeler and Garrett; as well as a great-grandson, Connor. Her ashes will be interred during a private ceremony in Tucson at the East Lawn Palms Cemetery near her sister and brother in-law. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Laurel School, 1 Lyman Circle, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122. Arrangements by ADAIR FUNERAL HOMES, Dodge Chapel.