Nancy Jean Rueckert Tucker

1953 - 2021

Nancy Jean Rueckert Tucker

May 2, 1953 - June 6, 2021

Nancy Jean Rueckert Tucker passed away peacefully in the early morning of Sunday, June 6, 2021, at her home in Roanoke, Va., after a courageous 17-month battle with brain cancer.

She was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on May 2, 1953, to Walter and Verna Rueckert. In 1970, she graduated from Menomonee Falls North High School where she was active in vocal performance and musical theatre.

Nancy attended The University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and Eau Claire and was a member of the touring musical group, The Kids from Wisconsin.

She joined the United States Navy as a member of the Armed Forces Bicentennial Band and Chorus, stationed at Ft. Meade, Maryland and performed in all 50 states from 1974 to 1976.

She married fellow Bicentennial Band-vocalist, David Tucker in 1976 and the couple settled in Bowie, Maryland where they welcomed two children, Bryan and Rebecca.

After leaving military service, Nancy completed her Associates Degree at Prince Georges Community College, becoming a Registered Nurse in 1984. She served as a general practitioner's nurse and as a family's private nurse.

Nancy and her family moved to Millersville, Maryland and she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Bowie State University in 1992. She worked at the Anne Arundel County Health Department where she occupied various roles of increasing responsibility until she retired as a Director in the Health Information and Promotion Department in 2015. Nancy relocated with her husband to Roanoke, Virginia following her retirement.

She was a faithful member of Capitol Hill Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington D.C., Grace Baptist Church in Bowie for nearly three decades, and most recently, First Baptist Church of Roanoke.

Nancy is survived by her husband of 44 years, David Tucker; her son, Bryan Tucker and his wife, Melanie, and their children, Madison, Casey, and Kayla, all of St. Augustine, Florida; daughter, Rebecca and her husband, John Kraemer, and their children, Natalie and Allison, all of Roanoke, Virginia; her mother, Verna Rueckert; and sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Norman Wick, and their children, Anne, Andrew and Katie, all of Garland, Texas.

A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 12, 2021, at First Baptist Church of Roanoke. The service will be preceded by a visitation with the family at 10 a.m. and followed by a reception at 12 noon. Nancy will be laid to rest at the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin, Virginia. Flowers can be sent to First Baptist Church of Roanoke.

Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to SmileTrain.org, a nonprofit organization and charity providing corrective surgery for children with cleft lips and palates. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.oakeys.com.