Nancy Elizabeth Eustance

1926 - 2021

Nancy Elizabeth (Guilford) Eustance

March 26, 1926 - July 10, 2021

Nancy Elizabeth (Guilford) Eustance, born March 25, 1926 in Rochester, NY, has died. She passed away peacefully while sleeping, on July 10, 2021, at her home in Hamilton, NY. She was 95.

Nancy was the only child of her parents, Leslie Howes and Dorothy (Underhill) Guilford, and was raised in both Rochester and South Ashfield, MA, at the farm of her grandparents, where the highlight for her was riding and caring for her pony. She graduated from Charlotte High School, and later from Wellesley College with a Degree in Mathematics. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester; she was an accomplished pianist, and sang in a lovely soprano voice.

She married John W. Eustance of Rochester, NY, in July of 1948. She and John settled in Pittsfield, MA, and then Scotia, NY, as John started his career at General Electric. They moved to Schenectady where they had their four children, and subsequently to South Glens Falls, NY, where their children were raised. Nancy was very active in their school activities, and accompanied the SGF Choruses and Glee Club for many years. She was an active and contributing member of the Boards of Directors of Glens Falls National Bank, Crandall Library, the Hyde Collection, where she was a docent for many years, and the DeBlasiis Chamber Music Association in Glens Falls. She was said to have a "rational and calming" effect in Board meetings. After John's death in 2002, Nancy moved to Hamilton, to be with her nearest family in her later years.

Nancy, John and their children traveled often, taking weekend trips to visit family across New York and Massachusetts. Nancy always had the kids and station wagon packed and ready with travel lunches when John came home from work on Fridays. They spent summer vacations camping and exploring the Western states, spring vacations in the West Coast of Florida, lots of time at their cottage at Thousand Islands, with occasional sailing ventures in the Caribbean. Nancy and John also traveled with members of the Hyde to UK, European and Asian countries during their cultural tour. After his death, she traveled with her daughters on numerous spring break adventures across the country.

Nancy's passions included the arts and education, her flower gardens, birds and nature, travel, and her family and children. Her love of books and learning lives on in her children; she always said she had not been bored since she learned to read. She enthusiastically and consistently supported the Women Artists program at Wellesley. She was a devoted and loving mother, wife, aunt, grandmother and great grandmother, passing on to her children her views of and insights into the arts and sciences, living and loving, her philosophy and learning, from which they all have benefited and thrived.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, in March of 2002. She is survived by her children: Lynn Eustance (Jim Adkins), Kerry Koen (Joe), Roger Eustance, and Amy Eustance; her grandchildren: Erin Koen (Rosemary Dorsett), Ryan Eustance (Becca), Scott Koen and Abby Eustance; and great grandchildren: Olive Eustance and Jack Eustance.

Many thanks to Nancy's caregivers during her last years, who devoted themselves to her comfort and care with love and affection.

Donations in her memory may be made to Crandall Library, the DeBlasiis Chamber Music Series, or the Hyde Collection, all in Glens Falls, NY, to the Hamilton Public Library, or to your favorite charity. Small, informal gatherings of family and friends will meet and celebrate together her wonderful life. She was a refined, beautiful, talented, caring and generous person, and she will be missed.