Nancie Claus Myre

LOUISVILLE - With family by her side, beloved mother and wife Nancie Claus Myre passed away peacefully on Friday afternoon, July 27. Nancie was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer on July 1 and, despite two hospital stays totaling some three weeks, was determined to get back to her home before departing from this world, and that she did. Despite a bleak prognosis, Nancie put aside her fears and showed greater concern for her children and her "favorite husband," for her friends and relatives who visited and reached out, and for the wonderful caregivers and other hospital personnel who gave their very best.

Nancie's life began on April 13, 1961, in Ithaca, New York. Her parents were native Kentuckians and soon moved their family to Waddy Peytona. When the marriage failed, Nancie was shuffled between Frankfort and Louisville during her youth, including to an orphanage and to the loving home of Lois Deutsch, her grandmother. During high school, she worked three jobs and saved her money. After graduation, she took a one-way flight to San Diego, a place she picked at random and where she knew nobody. Over the next five years, her adventures took her to Los Angeles, New York City, and Denver. Nancie returned to Louisville and enrolled in the U of L Speed School of Engineering. Working for Potter & Company Architects and the late Sam Rangaswamy, Nancie worked her way through the Speed School and in 1991 graduated with a chemical engineering degree and quickly got a good job. But after giving birth to her second child, she chose to become a full-time mother and mostly stayed that way until the end, although she frequently tutored struggling students, did volunteer work, and worked at Paul's Fruit Market until the pandemic put an end to that.

Nancie and Tad met in 1987, married in 1992, and celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary in May. She gave her husband her all, grinding away at home while he ground away at the office, and was the best traveling companion a mate could imagine, accompanying him and often the children to Northern Wisconsin, Northern Minnesota, New York City, DeKalb, Chicago, Red River Gorge, Hanover, San Diego, Disneyland, Kelleys Island, San Francisco, Charleston, St. Louis, the Apostle Islands, Boston, Maumee Bay, Philadelphia, Wisconsin Dells, Cooperstown, Niagara Falls, Paducah, Asheville, Seattle, Black Oak Lake, Duluth, the North Shore of Lake Superior, Washington, D. C., Gettysburg, Muir Woods, Sault Ste. Marie, Minocqua, Wawa (her favorite burger ever there), Tombstone, Yellowstone, Stone's River, Sausalito, Manitowish Waters, Dubuque, Thunder Bay, La Crosse, Little Italy, Little Bohemia, the Little Bighorn, the St. Paul Saints, Clearwater, both Richmonds, Sedona, the Chequamegon Hotel, Pike's Peak, Cape Cod, Plymouth, MN, Plymouth Rock, Fort Sumter, the Palmer House, the Garden of the Gods, Hazard, Ontonagon, Milwaukee, Santa Fe, Yankeetown Farm, the Navy Pier, Lookout Mountain, Mammoth Cave, Alcatraz, Natural Bridge, Dodger Stadium, Deadwood, escaping Sturgis just in time, Eagle River, Slade, Grand Marais, Copper Harbor, the Split Rock Lighthouse, Madison, Central Park, Oracle Park, Cherokee Park, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Laramie, the Sandman Motel, Davenport and the other Quad Cities, Bayfield, Stones River, Traverse City, Fort McKinley, Wentzville (home of Ron Hunt), Taos, Houghton, Hannibal, Bent's Fort, Chickamauga, Mackinaw Island, the gravesite of Billy the Kid, the Enchanted Circle, the Breaks, Washington's Crossing, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, West Point, Buddy Guy's Legends, St. Ignace (where Charlie took his first steps), the Gateway Lodge, the Grand Canyon, Sheridan, Wildberry Pancakes and Café, MOMA, LaCenter, the World's Largest Frying Pan, Tippecanoe Battlefield, Wild Bill Hickok's gravesite, the Buddy Holly crash site, Lake Mendota, the Smithsonian, Munising, Boulder Junction, Lac Vieux Desert, Kit Carson's grave, the haunted Pfister Hotel and Rossport, Ontario (pop. 100) rolling in at dusk in the Nova just after seeing our first moose, perhaps our most memorable day after the births of our children. And always back home to Louisville. All these and more. A wonderful lifelong companion and we still had Newfoundland and Nova Scotia in store, now only in the imagination.

Nancie loved her children, Charlie, Rachel, and Pete, loved them with a ferocity only a mother can summon up, and then loved them even more. And more. Each had his or her own special connection with their mother, all good, all without regret or hesitation, all with the easy confidence that that love would be shared and returned and reminisced upon and gathered up like sunshine for many years to come, confidence that that love would remain steady yet would mature and evolve with the passage of time and the changes in store. With her sudden diagnosis, with no time to reflect or waste, that love had to hurry up and speak plainly, from the heart, and it burned bright and electric for us to see, aweing witnesses such as Nancie's husband Tad, such as Nancie's relatives, friends and caregivers. The raw painful purity of that love was the greatest gift in the midst of all that was taken.

Nancie was preceded in death by her parents, Fred Claus and Jean Smith; her stepdad, Charlie Smith; her sister, Michelle Douglas; and her beloved aunt, Pat. She leaves behind her devoted husband, Tad and her loving children Charlie, Rachel and Peter, Myres all. Also surviving are her siblings, Rick Claus, Kenneth Claus, Suzie Spalding, and Eric Claus, and her stepbrothers Huston Wells, Russell Wells, and Gill Wells. She had a lasting and fond relationship with Tad's sister Kate Stewart (who in August lost her own beloved Dan), and with sister-in-law, Ellen Buskirk and her clan. Their spouses, life companions, nieces and nephews, direct and indirect relatives, step-folks, each and all are in our thoughts.

Nancie also leaves behind a community of dear friends, near and far, many of whom visited her during her final month. To try to name them would guarantee an inadvertent omission, so we won't try. You know who you are. The family cannot, however, refrain from thanking her many caregivers even at the risk of omitting one or more. Those included the wonderful Dr. Hadley, the fabulous Dr. Ruberg, the amazing Erin, the incredible Sydney, the wonderful Brittany and so many more remarkable people, including Dr. Baah, Rachel, Michelle, "Dr." Dany, Alicia, Dr. Killeen, Jacob, Ty, Dr. Dixit, Zach, Dorian, Dr. Kahn, Mary, SJ, Bethany, Crystal, Dr. Arno, April, Zayne, Dr. Rose, Peter, Angie, Dr. Cagata, Paige, Dr. Denham and dear Janice of Hosparus. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Special thanks to Krista McBride, the best PT ever. And extra special thanks to the poet Franklin Morris. And the love of strangers never will be forgotten.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. this Friday at Highlands Funeral Home at 3331 Taylorsville Road, and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Peterson Dumesnil House at 301 Peterson Ave., both in Louisville. There will be a short ceremony at noon. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation either to the Section 501©(3) charity, Less is More, Inc., 334 S. Peterson Ave., Louisville, Kentucky 40206, c/o Jane Emke;, or to the Hotel Metropolitan, 724 Oscar Cross Ave., Paducah, Kentucky 42003. The primary purpose of Less is More is to curb gun violence in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Nancie was volunteering with Less is More up until the time she became ill. Her efforts were spurred in part by the thus-far unsolved and uninvestigated murder of young Da'moni Smith, the 17-year-old son of her dear friend Celeste, on March 9 of this year. The Hotel Metropolitan is a one-of-a-kind gem in Paducah, a museum that was a "Green Book" hotel catering to Black celebrities during segregation, including Louie Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Satchel Paige, Duke Ellington and Josh Gibson. Run by the delightful Betty Dobson.