Nancy A. Faller

1946 - 2022

Nancy A. Faller

Turners Falls, MA — Nancy Anne Faller, RN, MSN, CWOCN, PHD died peacefully in God's grace on October 5, 2022, of pancreatic cancer. She died as she lived, resolutely, and careful not to waste suffering that could be offered for others.

Born October 6, 1946, Nancy is survived by seven younger siblings, her being the eldest of eight children born to Ursula Elaine (Freas) and George Byron Faller of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Ancilla Domini Academy in Philadelphia and was awarded a military scholarship to study nursing at St. Joseph's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Years later she continued with a Masters at Russell Sage in Albany, NY, and earned her Ph.D at UMass Amherst/Worcester.

Nancy's long and productive career started at Harrisburg Hospital while waiting to take the State Boards. She fulfilled her military obligation at Fort Knox, followed by a year in Vietnam, 1969-70. Returning from Vietnam, Nancy moved to Rutland, Vermont, where she first worked with her friend, Maureen, as a waitress– complete with traditional Bavarian costume–in a German restaurant in Killington, and then continued her nursing career. Certified as a Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse (CWOCN), she worked in the Rutland Regional Medical Center, the Rutland Area VNA, and the Vermont Department for Children and Families.

Nancy's Ph.D focused on clean and sterile wound care. Her career included extensive travel to present at nursing conferences, with three trips to China, two trips to Japan, three to Australia, five to Brazil, and five to Spain. She also taught and promoted care for patients with enteral feeding tubes, which became her mission in recent years, at home as well as abroad, specifically through her support and care for two special children, Moses Hart of Swanzey, New Hampshire, and her prayer partner throughout her suffering from cancer, little Charles Gardner of Northfield, Massachusetts.

Nancy cited her nursing care for Sgt. David Rioux in Vietnam as opening a pivotal moment in her life. She met David while working in an evacuation hospital, caring for him after his extensive injuries from a mortar rigged to a tripwire. David was not only the catalyst for bringing Nancy back to the Catholic Church and a life of faith, he also introduced her to Thomas Aquinas College, the college that would eventually open a second campus in Massachusetts and become both a place of work and a family for Nancy in the last four years of her life.

A resident of Turners Falls, Massachusetts, since 2010, Nancy was a vibrant presence in the Catholic community in Turners Falls and Greenfield and a testimony to the quip that a true nurse never actually retires because she knows too much. In 2019, when Thomas Aquinas College opened their New England campus in Northfield, Nancy enthusiastically filled the college's need for a campus nurse, a role that put her into the heart of campus life and the Catholic college community. She closed her career both working and then receiving care from the Thomas Aquinas College families and students, where she was known affectionately as "Nurse Nancy."

Of special mention is the care she received in the home of Simone and Nathanael Cassidy at the college.

Nancy is remembered for her no-nonsense high energy, her distinctive earrings, scarves, and socks, her collections of all things "ET", her enthusiasm for seminarians, strong bishops, and the beauty of the Catholic faith, her love of the saints (complete with collections of pictures and statues), her devotion to St. Anne, her unmitigated support of the pro-life response to the culture of death, her delight in engagements and weddings among TAC students, and her daily praying for family, friends, and students– always including their middle names.

Survived by her seven siblings, Mary Elizabeth, David John, Therese Frances Rose, Helen Cecilia, Constantine Peter, George Byron, Jr., and Michael Joseph, Nancy also has thirteen nieces and nephews, 21 great nieces and nephews, and her adopted sister from Korea, Myong Bernadette (Tony).

A funeral Mass for Nancy will take place in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel at Thomas Aquinas College, 231 Main Street, Northfield, Massachusetts, on October 10, 2022, at 10:00 am, followed by a burial at Our Lady of Czestochowa cemetery in Turners Falls, MA. All are welcome to return to Thomas Aquinas College for a luncheon in the Frassati Center.

Arrangements are under the direction of Kostanski Funeral Home. For condolences, Please visit www.kostanskifuneralhome.com