Nancy McMeans Richey

Nancy was born in Sandusky, Michigan, on September 11, 1932 and died on August 5, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas.

Nancy spent her childhood in Michigan, Colorado, and Texas. Like many children of the depression, she became an industrious, hard-working, and frugal woman.

She attended and was graduated from the University of Texas. During her time there she made many friends and was elected the fifth woman editor of the Daily Texan. While there, she met and then married Charles Irwin Richey. The marriage ended in divorce.

She worked with American Writer A.C. Green and with many prominent men in the history of the University of Texas, including Harry Ransom, and J. Frank Dobie. In 1976, she worked as assistant to the president at Boston University for John R. Silber after he left Austin.

Her career milestones included work at bookstores, a clandestine nonprofit dedicated to protecting reproductive rights in the time before Roe v. Wade, a public television station, and various university think tanks. She delighted in knowing that editing in a particular field did not require an initial expertise, but that an expertise came later. Ultimately, she created her most rewarding work as a freelance editor and writer, editing books, manuscripts, and other publications from the university community and other organizations.

She is survived by her elder son, Crispin Martinez, married to Ricardo Martinez, and her younger son David Richey, his ex-wife Rachel Thiesmeyer, her grandchildren Miranda and Ursula Thiesmeyer and Iain Richey, two brothers, Alex (Margaret) and Kent (Marilyn) MacDougall, two nephews, Michael and Kyle MacDougall, and a niece, Dyan Penny, as well as her great nieces and nephews.

A memorial will be held on Sunday, September 11, at 10am on the north bank of the shallow end of Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park.

A quotidian visitor to Barton Springs, she loved her pool. Gifts in her memory can be made to Save Our Springs.