Nancy Ann Dowlearn

Nancy attended Winslow High School, where she was head cheerleader, homecoming queen, class poet, and a writer for the Bulldog Barks newspaper. She graduated in 1959.

In 1961, she married Bob Pannoni, who was in the Air Force at the time. They lived in Phoenix, Arizona, Pearland, Texas, and then San Diego, California. They had two children together, Rob and Laurel.

She married Howard Lee Dowlearn Jr in 1972 in the Arizona temple of the LDS church. Together they raised seven children—her two plus his five. Howard’s job took them from Houston, Texas

to Tulsa, Oklahoma, before they eventually relocated to Mesquite, Texas (Dallas area) where they lived in the same house for 45 years.

Nancy was a secretary for a variety of businesses over 23 years. But she took particular joy in her final role, working at the City Library in Mesquite. She retired after serving there for 17 years.

Nancy was passionate about her family heritage, which included a connection to the desert, the Santa Fe railroad, and Native American culture. She collected oral histories of family members and compiled album after album of family pictures and stories. She played the piano. She also loved writing, successfully publishing an illustrated children’s book.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Howard Lee Dowlearn, Jr.; father, Leslie Daniel Bailey; mother, Mary Imogene Hill; and daughter, LaVonne Thomas. She is survived by sister, Linda Phelps; sister-in-law, Dorothy Smith-Martinez; children, Tamme Chilton, Rob Pannoni, Herbert Dowlearn, Teresa Coombs, Laurel Nixon, and Patrick Dowlearn, along with 23 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren, a large and beloved extended family, and many treasured friends.