Nancy McDaniel

We lived between hope and reality for a long, long time. Yet, in the end, dementia won, and our sweet wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Nancy (Hettich) McDaniel, passed away surrounded by her family on April 14, 2026.

Please remember her for the wonderful life she lived; a life filled with intense love for her family and friends, plenty of fun, laughter, travel, dancing, singing, delicious cooking, decorating, party planning, and a special ability to bring people together in the most meaningful ways.

She was born in River Rouge, Michigan, on November 3, 1939, to the late Albert and Mary (Barrett) Hettich.

Nancy graduated from Corning High School in 1958 and never missed a chance to attend alumni banquets to reconnect with old friends.

She moved to Columbus after graduation and first met the love of her life, Ray McDaniel, when he helped her after she ran out of gas. As luck would have it, a few weeks later she ended up parked next to him and his friends at a local drive-in. Nine months later, on July 16, 1960, they were married. To the very end, she said she was lucky to have found her beautiful, blue-eyed, dark-haired love of her life.

Ray and Nancy raised two daughters, Mary and Melissa. Her family was always number one, and she, in turn, was the center of their universe. Her daughters looked to her for guidance, encouragement, teaching, long phone calls, friendship, and, of course, her loving back scratches. When they think of safe places, they think of the home she created.

She was loved beyond measure by her sons-in-law, Glenn and Brian. Her grandsons, Sean, Josh, Nic, and Aiden, had the joy of spending fun times with their Nana and Papa. She especially loved watching them play sports, spending family time at the beach and lake, and, of course, playing games with them. Some of her favorite hugs came from her great-grandbabies.

Nancy worked as an admin at Battelle Memorial Institute from 1962 until her retirement in 1994. She was always proud of the work they did there and was honored to help support the setup of new offices and research projects throughout the country.

One of her favorite volunteer activities was working at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield every year. She especially loved working the leaderboard and took plenty of pictures of her favorite golfers.

She loved to travel, and her heritage was very important to her. She felt blessed to travel to Hungary in 2013 with some of her favorite cousins.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Jerry Hettich; and two special brothers-in-law, Rick Hanba and Frank Bickley.

Left to miss her on this side of Heaven are her husband, Ray McDaniel; daughters and sons-in-law, Mary and Glenn Evans of Columbus, and Melissa and Brian Costa of Long Beach, CA; grandsons Sean (Sarah) of New Albany, Josh (Nicole) Evans of Columbus,  Nic and Aiden Costa of Long Beach; and her great-granddaughters, Ellie, Faye, and Hadley Evans.

She is also survived by her very best friends; her sisters Jean Hettich of Brighton, Michigan; Linda Hanba; Elaine (Dave) Thompson; and her brother Tom (Shelly) Hettich, all of Logan, OH.

She also leaves behind others who loved her deeply, including many special nieces, nephews, cousins, and her sisters-in- law and brothers-in-law - Ralph and Carolyn McDaniel, Ruth and Dan Bentley, Margie and Mike King, and Jeri and Bob White.

Visitation will be held Monday, April 20th, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Schoedinger Margarum Northeast, 1051 E. Johnstown Road, Gahanna, Ohio. The service will follow from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the same location.

Nancy had a gift for “dressy casual” and for being present. Guests are welcome to dress as they wish; what matters most is coming together to celebrate the life and love she shared with us.

The family would also like to invite you to Mary and Glenn’s home immediately following the service to continue celebrating Nancy and her beautiful life.