Nancy Carol Eldblom

Nancy Carol Eldblom died from heart failure at the age of 80 in Shoreline, Washington on Thanksgiving Day. Nancy was born in Boston, MA in 1935. She attended Westtown School in West Chester, PA and then graduated from Swarthmore College in 1956. That same month she married Robert “Luf” Allen Lufburrow and they started their life together in Falmouth, MA. They then moved to Canton, NY in 1957 where Nancy and Luf would raise three children, be active members of the Unitarian Universalist Church, the Adirondack Mountain Club and would enjoy all the natural wonders of the North Country. She completed a master’s degree in library science. She and Luf divorced in 1976 and Nancy moved to Potsdam to be closer to her work at SUNY Potsdam as a research librarian. It was there that she met and married Lars Eldblom in 1978. Nancy and Lars enjoyed biking, hiking, dancing and traveling together. An especially memorable time was their year-long sabbatical in Lagos, Nigeria. After retiring as a librarian, Nancy devoted herself to her botanical interests. In 2010, Nancy’s proudest moment came with the publication of a book she had co-authored with Anne M. Johnson - Plants of St. Lawrence County, NY – An Annotated Checklist of Vascular Flora. This was the culmination of a decade of botanical collection and research. The desire to be closer to Nancy’s mother, Priscilla Crosby Hickman, inspired Nancy and Lars to leave their beloved North Country and resettle in Ojai, CA. After Priscilla passed away and her own health began to decline, Nancy moved to Washington state.

Nancy was never happier than when she was deep in the woods in the North Country, on foot or in her kayak. Her greatest passion was for the natural world which she enjoyed, studied and did her best to protect. She believed in leaving the smallest footprint possible on the planet. Nancy is survived by two daughters: Elizabeth Lufburrow of Shoreline, WA, and Deborah Lufburrow Chapman of Eugene, OR, a son Robert A. Lufburrow lll of Davis, CA, her brother, William C. Hickman, of Berkeley, CA, her husband Lars Eldblom of Ojai, CA, and her former husband Robert A. Lufburrow. A private remembrance gathering will be planned for Nancy at a later time. The family would like to thank the staff at Aegis of Shoreline for their exceptional care and dedication to Nancy’s health and comfort. Please visit www.acaciafuneralhome.com to sign the guest book.