Nancy Helen Wade

Nancy Helen Banik was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN, attended Robbinsdale High School, Class of ‘51. She married Donald W. Berg in 1952, and together they raised three sons Duane Donald, Dennis Richard and Douglas Alan. Nancy and Don were divorced in 1972, and by the winter of 1978, Nancy had had enough of the cold and snow of Minnesota. She packed up her belongings, kissed her grown sons goodbye, and drove to San Diego, California.

She didn’t know anyone in San Diego or California but managed to land her first job at the Mission Bay Yacht Club where she was manager for two years. Brought up in the “land of 10,000 lakes” (albeit frozen lake half of the year), the warm blue Pacific Ocean, the colorful yachts, and the unbeatable sunny climate of San Diego seemed heaven on earth to this Minnesota native. A self-described “control freak” she later set out on her own (again), this time a few miles north to Orange County and started a business in Word Processing at a time when computers were just beginning to find their way into mainstream offices. While living in Irvine, she met and married Norman Joseph Wade in 1982.

Nancy had a great passion for genealogy and her family history that began with a school assignment while she was in junior high-school and encouraged by her great-aunt Caroline Davis Argetsinger. This passion culminated in the publishing of a Davis Family History in 1995, which she dedicated to “Aunt Carrie.” As a direct descendant of one or more Revolutionary Patriots, Nancy joined the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) in 1978 and held various positions at the national, state and local DAR chapters. She was a member of five DAR chapters, originally in the Captain John Holmes chapter in Minneapolis, and later in Southern California in the Letitia Coxe Shelby chapter in La Mesa, the Estudillo chapter in Hemet, Santa Margarita chapter in Oceanside, and most recently the Rancho Buena Vista Chapter in Vista. She was active in the San Diego Chapter of the U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812 and the San Diego Colony of Mayflower Descendants.

Nancy and Norm settled in San Marcos in 2000, where Nancy continued her involvement with her organizations. She (and Norm) loved to travel, play a round or two of golf, listen to Frank Sinatra, and read, read, read.

Nancy moved to Cerritos, California to be near her son Dennis following Norm’s passing in 2011. Her ashes will be interred with Norm’s in the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.