Nancy Genevieve Belcher First

1929 - 2025

Nancy Genevieve Belcher First

LEEDS, MA - Nancy Genevieve Belcher First passed away peacefully, early on Friday morning May 23rd, at Linda Manor extended care in Leeds, Massachusetts; she was 95 years old. Nancy was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 11, 1929, to Laura Elizabeth Armstrong and John Goddard Belcher. She was a graduate of Cornell University, where she studied botany. Nancy was the devoted wife to Robert Stanley First whom she married in 1956. She worked as an Elementary School teacher for a short time before having her two children, Ginger Lee and Katherine Ann First.

Nancy was a person who saw poetry everywhere: in the mundane, dusty corners of daily life; in the birds perched outside of her window; in the immensity of the landscapes in which she lived. She shared this with the rest of us through her emotive oil paintings of landscapes and animals. When she spent time in her garden, she had the gift of making flowers and vegetables spring out of any soil she touched. Her favorite subjects to paint were landscapes and trees in particular. She often spoke about how connected and amazed by trees she was and spent many afternoons walking amongst the pines, maples and oaks of Look Park.

Nancy had a life-long dedication to social justice and was an active member of the Quaker community throughout her adult life. She was most recently an active member of the Northampton Quaker Meeting where she attended weekly Sunday morning worship. She closely followed and was deeply disturbed by the wars and conflicts springing from U.S foreign intervention that spanned her life, and organized and participated in countless peace vigils in response. She urged the rest of us to embrace her strong belief that no matter the cause, war is never the answer. She connected to many others locally protesting nuclear energy and weapons and was arrested practicing civil disobedience with other local activists and Quakers. During her younger years, activism was an integral part of her life. She wrote a letter to President Reagan every day of his presidency pleading with his administration to stop nuclear proliferation, promising that she would not stop writing until something was done.

Nancy was one of the kindest humans you could ever meet. She had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the room - if not the world. She was generous with her time and resources, had a contagious smile, and an unflappably positive attitude. It was all the little things she would do: writing a note to tell you she was thinking about you, tying sunflowers to the antenna of her car, leaving a chocolate bar at your house, and the like, that made her such a presence. She believed in the light in every human being, which she drew from the Quaker Faith and is perhaps what made her seem almost luminescent herself.

Nancy is survived by her twin brothers Bob and Don Belcher of Oregon and Washington, respectively, her two daughters Lee and Katherine First, her son-in-law Nathaniel Arai, her two grandchildren Ryo and Leanna First-Arai, and Leanna's partner Pepe Pereira Boan. She was the very first person to be told that her great grandchild was on the way and due in August!

A memorial service will be held on November 22, 2025, at the Northampton Quaker Meetinghouse at 2:00. Family and friends are invited to attend and celebrate her life together.