Nancy Yvonne Swanger

Nancy Yvonne Poovey Swanger, 91, died peacefully on April 6, 2025, while reading her newspaper – which comes as no surprise to those who knew her. She was a lifelong lover of words and stories and coloring books. Reading to her kids and grandkids was one of her biggest pleasures, and even years after they were grown, she was still reading; in fact, the only technology she ever really mastered was figuring out how to get the latest book on her e-reader!

Nancy’s life began on August 27, 1933, as the second child of Allen and Rachel Poovey. Growing up in Hickory, a town in western North Carolina, she learned early to worship, to sing, and to work. She planned to major in English at a local college – but one day, when she was working as an usher at a movie theater, she met Bill Swanger. For reasons still unknown, she chose to ditch college and marry him in 1952. Her mother cried, her father supported her, and Nancy did as she would always do – she made her own choices.

In 1958, Nancy and Bill packed up their two daughters, Robin and Tammy, and moved to eastern North Carolina, far away from the hosiery mills where their families worked. They added a son, Bill (known to his family as “Billy”), in 1959.

Among the first working mothers in the area, Nancy used her creative talents as display director at an Air Force base exchange during the Vietnam era. Her kind heart welcomed lonely soldiers into the Swanger home regularly, giving them a place to spend weekends and holidays while they served their time away from home. She maintained a job while also doing the usual wife-and-mother things – cleaning, cooking, driving her kids around, and, of course, taking them all to the library once a week! What she probably never knew is that she modeled something very precious and strong for her kids – and for their kids.

Nancy and Bill moved to Texas in 1972. There they worked hard, played golf, watched their kids grow up and have their own kids, and enjoyed a good life – although Nancy would tell you, up until the day she died, that North Carolina was her home.

Still, when Bill died in 2007, she buried him in Texas. She will be buried, as she lived most of her life, beside him.

Nancy is survived by her children Robin Swanger and husband Rob Harvan, Tammy Swanger and husband Zach Harborth, and Bill(y) Swanger and wife Teresa Pingree-Swanger; her grandchildren Rachel Montgomery and husband Edmond, Cody Swanger and wife Renata, Skyler Whittlesey and wife Nicole, Brittney Maske and husband Patrick, and Swanger Harborth; her great-grandchildren Aiden Whittlesey-Adams, Sophia Whittlesey-Adams, Lilia Whittlesey-Adams, Camden Montgomery, Penelope Montgomery, and Avery Maske; her sister Suzanne Keever; and many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her husband Bill; her siblings Herb Poovey, Larry Poovey, and Debbie Shepherd; her sister-in-heart Alice Beshears; her nephews Scot Poovey and Stacy Poovey; and her dear friends Pat Lunsford and Frances Wilfong.

You can celebrate Nancy’s life with contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association, Samaritan’s Purse, ASPCA, or any charity that moves your heart.