Nancy Ellen Petrie

In Memoriam

Nancy Ellen Petrie passed away suddenly on February 8, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia, apparently of a heart attack. She was 60 years old.

She is survived by a charmingly complex mix of family members: her son Sam Friday and his significant other Jillian Carroll; her daughter Elizabeth (Andrew) Horbaly; her granddaughter Charlotte Grace Horbaly; her mother Anne Kennedy and stepfather Stan Kennedy; her father James S. Petrie and his life partner Jeanelle Allen; her sister Holly Petrie (Edward) Francis; her half-brother James (Karman) Petrie; her half-sister Katherine Petrie; her stepsister Caroleann (Greg) Hennessy; her stepbrother Michael Kennedy; and her former husband John Friday. She also leaves behind a host of loving aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins, and a diverse collection of friends including Cameron Oglesby, in whose home she was residing prior to her death, and Cindy Dufour, a frequent traveling companion.

Born in Chicago on August 16, 1963, Nancy and her sister Holly were raised in Wilmette, Illinois. After graduating from New Trier East High School in neighboring Winnetka, Nancy attended Ohio Wesleyan University before transferring to The University of Iowa where she met her future husband, John Friday. She received her BA Degree in 1985. Shortly thereafter, she and John were married. With stops along the way, they migrated to Virginia where Nancy would reside for the rest of her life.

In the fall of 1991, Nancy, John, and their dog Max set sail for the Virgin Islands in a 28-foot Cape Dory Sloop. They followed the Intracoastal Waterway from New Jersey to Florida and headed southeast through the Bahamas and past the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. They spent four months in the Islands before embarking northward, offshore and along the New England coastline until making landfall in Maine. Navigating in weather fair and foul, it was a remarkable seafaring adventure.

Nancy's son Sam was born in 1994, her daughter Elizabeth ("Libby") in 1997. Following her divorce from John in 2005, Nancy began her career in nursing. Over the years she was employed by health care facilities in Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, and Richmond, always in positions that placed her in contact with patients. For a time, she worked for the Virginia Department of Correction caring for inmates. Recently, she was nominated by her peers for an award from the DAISY Foundation, which recognizes the demanding roles nurses play in the communities they serve.

She enjoyed living near the Atlantic coast and loved to walk the beaches, ride the cold ocean waves, and take in the sun and sea air. She and her children regularly visited with her Aunt Helen and Uncle Larry at their summer cottage in Ocean Grove on the Jersey shore, mingling easily with relatives of all ages who would congregate there for family reunions. She called it her "happy place."

Nancy had a gentle, mezzo-soprano voice and a natural talent for singing that blossomed in high school where she was cast in student musicals. Years later in Virginia, she would successfully audition for and join several community choruses. Indulging her whimsical side, she had recently taken up playing the ukulele.

She expressed her creativity in many ways. She was an avid photographer, strolling neighborhood streets and park trails in search of colors and '-scapes' that satisfied a keen eye for light and composition. Diligent about remembering birthdays and anniversaries, she would commemorate them with gifts she'd crafted by hand, and with congratulatory notes written in her distinctively tiny, non-cursive style. And she knew her way around a kitchen; her banana bread and fresh strawberry jam were the stuff of legend.

Nancy adored her two children and worked hard to give them every advantage she could manage. Sam graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017. Two years later, Elizabeth ("Libby") graduated from Virginia Tech. Nancy was present at both commencements, proudly cheering on her children as they stepped forward to receive their diplomas.

Libby, now living with her husband in Florida, gave birth to baby Charlotte on November 3, 2023. Nancy helped plan two baby showers, one in Ocean Grove and the other in Virginia. In December, she flew to Florida and spent a joyful week visiting with her daughter and newborn granddaughter. It would be the first and the only time she would see them together.

Nancy will be remembered for her mischievous sense of humor, a smile that was warm and welcoming, eyes that seemed to glint when she laughed, a countenance

that could shift easily from angelic to devilish, and a heart filled to overflowing with compassion and generosity. She possessed a dogged determination that enabled her to overcome her share of life's slings and arrows, to which she would unfailingly respond in a manner found in the lyrics of a vintage Jerome Kern song: "Take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again."

May she rest now in peace.

A Celebration of Nancy's life will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, April 13, 2024, at Kenilworth Union Church, 211 Kenilworth Avenue, Kenilworth, Illinois. A reception will follow.

In place of flowers, donations may be made in Nancy's honor to the James River Association in Richmond, VA at: https://thejamesriver.org/donate