Nancy Carolyn Mustafa

In later years, looking back, Nancy Mitchell recalled that her childhood had been happy and playful, even though she was born in the Spring of 1940, as the world plunged to war and the Depression still held millions in its grip. She spent those years chasing rabbits in her parents' yard and skinning her knees climbing trees. By the time she was a teenager the world was a more peaceful and secure place, and her greatest concern was her father's disapproval of the "hillbilly" music she loved, like Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.

Nancy was precocious and intelligent, mature for her age. Her parents swallowed their anxiety and permitted her to study abroad in Mexico, where she developed the lifelong passion for the Spanish language that shaped her life and career. She went to college early, at 17, and then to graduate school, specializing in classical Spanish literature. At a party one evening with her sorority sisters at George Washington University, she met an intense and charming recent immigrant from Iraq named Husain Mustafa. He was smitten and pursued her; but it was the late 1950s. Their relationship was considered "inter-racial" in those days, and a Christian woman dating a Muslim man, even in multi-cultural Washington DC, raised eyebrows. It is a credit to her family that they accepted this obvious devotion and approved their marriage.

Nancy belonged to that first generation of women who had to choose between family and career. She felt the tension of that choice her entire life. She was active in the League of Women Voters and she taught as an adjunct professor, but she placed her husband's career first and chose to stay at home with her young children. Like so many women of her age, she made difficult compromises between the duties of her mother's generation and the promise of her daughter's.

In retirement she filled her time with gardening, travel and excursions, and her dedication to the Christian Science church, where she served several times as Reader. Her faith was strong and unconditional and the church was the most important community in her life.

Nancy survived Husain by four years. She died in her sleep on a beautiful Sunday in Autumn, in the home she had lovingly maintained for four decades. She is survived by her children Sam and Sonya and her grandsons William and Andrew.