Featured Resident – Nancy Crossley

            Nancy Crossley was born in San Jose, CA, to Edward and Ruth Crossley.  Her father was in the service. When she was young, they moved to Ann Arbor, MI, where her younger sister was born.  After that tour of duty, they moved back to California.  Her father, with the help of her grandfathers, built a house on the side of a hill in San Anselmo, CA.  Growing up, Nancy liked to play games and had a small group of friends.  She liked school, especially Math and English.

The family moved to Kaiserslautern, Germany, when Nancy was 12.  She loved Germany.  While they were stationed there, they were able to travel throughout Europe.  This is when the “travel bug” bit Nancy.  They moved back to San Anselmo in time for Nancy’s junior year in high school.  A year later, the family went to Quito, Ecaudor.  Nancy attended a Baptist Missionary Boarding School, though she didn’t board.  She graduated from there at the age of sixteen. Her graduating class consisted of eight students.

Nancy flew back to the states by herself and attended the University of California – Santa Barbara for a semester.  She didn’t really like anything about the college. So she moved to Pleasanton, CA, to live with her aunt and family.  She attended Diablo Valley College studying music for a semester before deciding college wasn’t for her.

Nancy worked a series of odd jobs until her parents and sister returned from Ecuador.  Shortly thereafter, they were sent to Taiwan.  Nancy went with them and taught English to the Chinese military preparing to go overseas. She was there for a year and a half and says she was treated like royalty. Upon graduation of the Chinese, they had a graduation banquet unlike anything she had ever seen.

When Nancy returned to the states, she went to business school in San Francisco.  It was an eight month course.  They helped with job placement and Nancy went to work for the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA, doing secretarial work. Eventually Nancy was transferred to Reston, VA, to be  a travel and transportation specialist.  She was in charge of packing supplies to go overseas. She really loved that job.  However, the weather reeked havoc on her health and she ended up transferring back to Menlo Park.  She remained there until she took an early retirement in 1995. She had just over thirty years of service.

Nancy’s mom passed away in 1978.  When Nancy retired, she went to live with her father. She took care of him until he had to go to a nursing home.  He passed away in 2000.

In 1998, Nancy moved to Cape Coral, FL, with her friend, Carole.  They loved Florida.  Carole’s son convinced them to move to Ft. Myers.  They eventually moved into Barkley Place, a senior living community.  She and Carole lived there for about three years.  Carole passed away in March of 2020

Nancy’s cousin asked her to move to Kearney so that she could be closer to family. She moved to Westbrook in August.   She is only six miles from her cousin.

As I mentioned before, Nancy was bitten by the “travel bug” at a young age.  She continued to travel throughout her life.  She traveled with friends.  She even became best friends with her travel agent and the agent’s husband. Some of the amazing travel experiences include a two week African Safari in Namibia and Botswana.  It was especially planned for Nancy and her friend by a counterpart to her position in the U.S. Geological Survey. She said the only animal she didn’t get to see was the white rhino.  During this safari, they stayed in every kind of housing from hotels down to a tent.  It was a marvelous trip.  She has been throughout Europe, to Australia, the Far East, Antarctica, the Arctic Circle, where she experienced the Midnight Sun.  In 2007, she took a world cruise.  It lasted 105 days.  One of the highlights of that trip was India and visiting the Taj Mahal.

Nancy strongly encourages that if the opportunity to travel arises, take it because traveling is very educational.