Nancy Joy Gorsuch

Nancy Joy Gorsuch of Montezuma, Iowa, died on November 3, 2025 at her home in Des Moines, Iowa.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., First Presbyterian Church, 1025 Fifth Avenue in Grinnell, Iowa, with Rev. Kirsten Klepfer officiating.
Nancy was born October 13, 1951, the daughter of John and Barbara Gorsuch, and raised on their family farm east of Montezuma. Nancy was a graduate of Montezuma High School, the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, and Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, with a Master of Divinity and PhD degrees.
Nancy was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA, and for fifteen years she served several Presbyterian churches: Associate Pastor at Bower Hill Church in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Second Presbyterian in Richmond Virginia, Interim Pastor at Saint Thomas Church in Shelby Township Michigan and Dayspring Church in Yonkers New York.
While serving a church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she met David Isch and they married on August 2, 1980. Nancy and David moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1992 where she taught at Brite Divinity School for twenty years. She was an Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Care, a Diplomate in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, a Licensed Professional Counselor, and a member of the Society for Pastoral Theology. Nancy was challenged by the wisdom and perseverance of her colleagues and mature students, and was grateful for the opportunity to teach and learn with Master of Divinity and PhD students. In 2012 she retired with her husband in Grinnell, Iowa.
Nancy is survived by her husband David Isch, son Daniel Isaac Isch and his partner Pamela Pereira-Tapia, stepson Darrell Konrad Isch and his wife Deborah, sister-in-law Kathy Gorsuch, brother-in-law Louis Isch¸ stepbrother Steve Wright and his wife Brenda, and many other family members held in enduring affection. As she requested, cremated remains will be privately interred. Nancy was preceded in death by her mother, Barbara (Hudson) Gorsuch in 1990, her brother David Gorsuch in 2008, her father John Gorsuch in 2018, and stepmother Kathleen Wright Gorsuch in 2019.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Grinnell, 1025 Fifth Avenue, Iowa 50112 (telephone: 641-236-6059), or to UnityPoint Hospice, UnityPoint Health – Des Moines Foundation, 1415 Woodland Avenue, Suite E-200, Des Moines, Iowa 50309, or to the Plymouth Church Foundation, Plymouth UCC Church, 4126 Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312.