Nancy Joan Williams

Nancy Joan Williams (nee Woelfel) was born May 6, 1937, in Wallace, Idaho and died February 15, 2022, in Mesa, Arizona with her son Douglas by her side. We will honor and cherish her influence in our lives and memories of her forever.

Nancy grew up in the quaint town of Silverton, Idaho (where she worked at the family’s combined grocery store, gas station and Post Office), graduating from Wallace High School, then went off to start her professional life by getting a nursing degree from saint Patrick’s School of Nursing, in Missoula, Montana and stayed on a year as a teacher.

She married her high school sweetheart, James Williams, of Osborne, Idaho, who had joined the Navy. They initially lived in Spokane, Washington, where she worked at Good Samaritan Nursing Home. Her sister, Susan, remembers that she was such a good nurse, and had a good sense of humor. During one hospital shift, a man was sleeping with his hands folded, and Nancy took some flowers out a vase and stuck them in his folded hands, she could get away with anything!

They had many travels together, in U.S. locations such as Pensacola, Florida and Honolulu, Hawaii where she worked as a nurse. While raising a family of four, they were assigned to spend four years in Japan. There, among many other adventures, Nancy taught English to Japanese businessmen. From Japan, the Navy sent the family to spend 3 years in England, where Nancy served as a nurse and worked at a Department of Defense school (London Central High School) where her two oldest sons attended. After separating from her husband, Nancy showed her signature tenacity and love for her family by choosing to work and raise her four children alone in England, which allowed her oldest son Ronald to complete the Air Force Junior ROTC program which got him into the USAF Academy.

Nancy and the kids eventually moved back to Spokane, Washington, where she worked for many years at Silver Valley Nursing Home and spent two summers as a camp nurse in Twin Lakes, ID. As further evidence of her courage and drive, it was during this time that she went back to college and graduated with her Bachelor’s Degree in nursing from Gonzaga University in May, 1981.

Nancy’s many passions included golf, gardening, antiquing, fishing, dancing and traveling. But sadly, she developed a long-term medical condition that resulted in her moving to California under the care of her son Steven. She later moved to Mesa, Arizona, where she lived for 15 years with the assistance of her youngest son, Doug, and her daughter in law, Cathy, who were blessed to have her in their lives.

She is survived by her sons, Ronald Williams, of Colorado Springs, Steven Williams, of Ocala Florida, Douglas Williams, of Mesa, Arizona, her daughter, Theresa Strohl, of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, her sister, Susan McGinnis, of Hayden, Idaho, and by five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents Joseph & Mildred Woelfel and infant daughter Mary Katherine.