Nancy Lee Dickey

Nancy Lee Dickey, 83, of Columbia, passed away peacefully on February 18, 2026 in her home, with her loving family and dog by her side.

Nancy was born in Frenchtown, New Jersey on May 11, 1942. Her parents are the late Kenneth and Edith (Perrine) Durham. On February 23, 1963. She married Larry Dickey in Whippany, New Jersey.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Larry; two sons, Kent Dickey (Laura) and Brian Dickey; and two grandchildren, Andrew and Katherine.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a son, Alan.

In Nancy's childhood, she could see some of her future by looking out the windows of her parents' large white house along the driveway entrance to Bell Laboratories in Whippany, New Jersey. Later, Nancy and Larry were both employed at this Bell Laboratories location. Out another window, Nancy could see the adjoining acreage of an uncle and aunt with two sons of her age. The three children were always ready to play, ride horses in the barnyard and, in summer, go to each families' lake house for swimming, water skiing and dockside picnics.

It was love at first sight when Larry saw Nancy at a Bell Laboratories St. Patrick's dance in 1962. From that day forward, Nancy was as beautiful as when he first saw her. Her beauty lasted 63 years of their marriage. On the next day after their wedding, Nancy packed her things and bravely started the journey with Larry to their first home on a US Army base at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. After this two-year tour of duty, they returned to New Jersey to live in Parsippany, East Hanover and Hackettstown. Then, they were transferred to Ohio in 1993. For the next thirty years, they enjoyed Friday night dates every week. Nancy's beauty is especially remembered as she set in a booth at her favorite restaurant, facing the entrance, and waiting for Larry to park the car come join her for dinner. Her usual choice was lasagna followed by two forks for shared chocolate cake and ice cream.

Nancy's had inside beauty that she shared. She delivered meal-on-wheels for her church, raised funds for local charities by selling fifteen thousand dollars of circus tickets. She never missed football practice, band practice, medical/dental appointment or whatever school event was scheduled for her sons. Using her manual typewriter, she drafted, corrected as many times as needed and completed all manuscripts for two computer books written by Larry and published. Without conditions or expectations of any return, she used her personal money to fund bank accounts for each of her sons to pay all expenses for any college of their choice to attend for along as they wanted. She funded their new cars, a family swimming pool and Brian's condo. When they finished college, Nancy told them to keep all money left in each account. Nancy was proud when Brian graduated from University of Missouri and Kent graduated from Princeton University. As a small return to her as a Princeton parent, she and Larry enjoyed a free on-campus ice cream and strawberry social. After graduation, Kent drove her to California to help set up his first apartment. On the way, they visited the Grand Canyon.

Nancy had a beautiful way with numbers. She handled all family finances for fifty years. This included the day when she closed on the family home in Pataskala, Ohio, carried a high-dollar cashier's check that she could easily cash for herself. When Larry inquired, she said "I never thought about cashing it for myself."

Nancy could see beauty in a bad situation. When told about Larry's layoff, Nancy said, "Good, we must upgrade our golf membership, so we can play as often as we want." Their Golden Years began, as Nancy and Larry played golf together, riding in their private golf cart parked in the garage at their golf course home. For the next seventeen years, they played golf every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Often, at the first tee, one of them would say, "Well here's another day at the office." Total was 1,700 rounds of golf and riding side by side in their golf cart for 3,400 miles.

Nancy selected beautiful Christmas gifts for her sons. One snowy day before Christmas in early 1980's, Nancy and Larry bought an Apple II computer, printer and disc drive. For Kent at age ten, that gift became a life changer as he went forward to have his own very successful world-wide business as professional computer expert.

Nancy wanted her sons to see the beauty in their country. Nancy and her family went to beautiful Jackson Hole, Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, Seatle space needle for dinner, Redwood National Park, Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, Glacier National Park, Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, Disney World, Lake George, historic Boston, Niagara Falls, St. Louis Arch, Silver Dollar City and many places in Pennsylvania. Her family and a group of Hackettstown friends enjoyed several Easter vacations camping oceanside at Myrtle Beach. Another good friend treated Nancy and Larry with a free private jet round trip to a private weekend retreat. Their memorable Saturday night dinner was fresh-caught trout from an on-site spring fed lake. For many Christmas holidays, Nancy, Larry and once joined by Brian were with Kent and family in Westford, MA. These visits were often followed in mid-August by trips to Kent and Laura's Cape Cod summer home.

Bach-Yager Funeral Chapel is honored to serve the Dickey family.