Nancy Anne Quick McHugh

Nancy was known for her passion for animals, music, art, and fashion.

Born in the family home in Webster Groves, Missouri, on the 1st of September 1935, Nancy grew up free to spend the day playing in the woods surrounding her home. She knew it was time to come home when she heard the far-reaching clanging of the cow bell her mother rang as a signal.

During her youth, Nancy played cello, piano and harp. As a high school student, she was a pupil of Carlos Salzedo, world-renowned master harpist, harp technique innovator, arranger and composer. She attended his legendary Salzedo Summer Harp Colony in Camden, Maine, and also studied with him at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he founded the harp department in 1924. She would later teach The Salzedo Method to her own harp students.

Nancy graduated early from Webster Groves High School and then began her post-secondary studies at Webster College the very month she turned 17. After her freshman year there, she left home to attend North Texas State for its harp program. According to Nancy, that program was dissolved when the harp teacher left at the end of the year.

Nancy then transferred to the University of Houston for further harp and music education. There she met fellow student, Edgar Lee McHugh (Ed) of Grand Prairie, Texas, who would become her husband of 49 years and 10 months. He often told of choosing to sit next to the prettiest girl in class. Nancy earned a Bachelor of Science degree and Ed earned a Bachelor of Arts degree on the same day. The following year, Ed earned a Bachelor of Laws (later redesignated as Doctor of Jurisprudence) from the University of Houston College of Law.

Together, Ed (COL USAF RET) and Nancy and their children lived the military lifestyle of the times. Nancy was especially taken by a tour in Japan, which ever-after influenced her aesthetic and her life. She was invited to be an “extra” in the 1966 romantic comedy, “Walk, Don’t Run,” starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton. The movie, set during the 1964 Olympics, was filmed on location in Tokyo. Nancy said she enjoyed the experience; unfortunately, her appearance did not make the final cut.

Nancy’s creative works included oil, watercolor, pastel, calligraphy, bookmaking, fiber art (wearable art, embellishment, and wall art in the form of surface thread design), Ikebana flower arranging, crochet, bargello, and found object art. She was once briefly a church organist for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and taught piano, in addition to harp.

Nancy performed on the harp for many events and venues. When Nancy was college-age, she was a student of Beatrice Schroeder Rose, principal harpist, and is described in the January 1962 issue of “The Winged Reporter” as, “a former second harpist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.” In the San Antonio area, Nancy played as a solo artist, in a harp-and-flute duo, and with the San Antonio Harp Ensemble under the direction of founder Laurie Buchanan. Newspaper archives show an image of Nancy as the harpist for the Tartan Ball in 1968.

During her over forty years as an Alamo Heights resident, Nancy was a member of the Tuesday Musical Club, San Antonio Country Club, the Fiber Artists of San Antonio, the San Antonio Calligraphers’ Guild, of which she was the second president (newspaper archives contain a 1981 image of Nancy promoting a Guild exhibit), and Beta Sigma Phi, her college sorority. She was a member of the American Guild of Organists and was an officer in the San Antonio Chapter of the American Harp Society. She and her family were longtime members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and she later also attended Christ Episcopal Church. She supported the work of Friends of Hospice through her membership and fundraising efforts.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents, Preston Quick and Jennie Esther Lorenz Quick, by her husband, Ed, by their son, Preston Kenneth (Ken) McHugh, by her three sisters, Hortense Marjorie “Heart” Quick Arno, Ruth Janet Quick Ruhl, Celeste Marie Quick Bretzlaff Taylor, and by her great-grandnephew, Abel Stewart Daugherty.

Survivors include two children, Edgar Lee McHugh, Jr. of San Antonio, Texas, and his family, and Jennie B. McHugh Duncan of Leavenworth, Kansas, and her family; Nancy’s grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews and a cousin, Jean Elizabeth Graubner Lechner of Kirkwood, Missouri. Ancestral family surnames include Quick, Plack, Carr, Preston, Newberry, Runyon, Lorenz, Stewart, and Smith. Nancy was proud of her Scottish heritage.

The family is grateful for the help from Nancy’s loving caregivers, especially her niece, Katherine Nelle Bretzlaff Spiegelman of College Station, Texas.

Nancy is also survived by her most recent in a long line of animal companions, her dog, Phoebe, who has a new home with Nancy’s niece, Kathy. Please consider a donation to your local animal shelter, wildlife rescue organization, or to Friends of Hospice.

The family will receive friends for visitation at Porter Loring Mortuary on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. The service will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 12:30 PM. Interment will follow in Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery.