Nancy Baughman

1949 - 2025

Nancy Baughman

January 17, 1949 - April 24, 2025

Oceano, California - Nancy Baughman (Perozzi) passed on to a more perfect place Thursday evening April 24, 2025, after years long struggles with Alzheimer's.

Nancy was born January 17, 1949 in Marysville, CA and raised on a small dairy farm in Nicolaus, CA. She was the second of five children, and they all worked. In the truest sense of the concept, it was a "team effort" or they didn't eat. Nancy learned to can summer fruit and vegetables to sustain the family in the winter. At harvest time, along with migrant workers, she picked everything grown in the upper Sacramento Valley in order to buy clothes. She learned sacrifice from her parents. She learned to do without.

In order to attend Yuba Community College after high school, Nancy raised rabbits, attending to 300 does and their litters. She also worked as a lifeguard at the local community pool. After graduating from junior college, she transferred to Sonoma State University earning her BA in political science in 1971. While at Sonoma State, she met her future husband Larry. After college Nancy attended Sawyer Business School, moved to San Francisco, and worked three years as office manager to the director of the Western Pacific area for Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Larry and Nancy were married in Berkeley, CA in November 1974, and just celebrated their 50th anniversary. They settled in Oceano to begin their life together, as Larry was already working for Mid-State Bank in Arroyo Grande. Nancy immediately got a job as secretary and full-charge bookkeeper for a structural engineering company in San Luis Obispo.

Nancy joined the First United Methodist Church of Arroyo Grande in 1975, and served faithfully in various capacities throughout the last 50 years.

Nancy's lovely and devoted daughter Nicole, was born in 1978, and talented and loving son Benjamin in 1980.

After 25 years with the engineering firm, Nancy attended graduate school and earned her Elementary Education Teaching Credential. She taught children, mostly at Oceano Elementary School, for the next 10 years eventually retiring in 2009. After retirement Nancy and Larry traveled extensively visiting 49 of our 50 states, Mexico, Canada, London and Paris, before dementia caused by Alzheimer's kept her at home beginning in January 2020.

In March of 2021, Coastal Care Connection was hired to help Larry with Nancy's care. The caretakers assigned were amazing, providing her the most gentle and loving care with utmost respect. One of the first caretakers wrote in the company's care log, "Mrs. Nancy is one of those beautiful people and angels God blessed the earth with to help others so she deserves the best care possible. Keep love and patience in your heart while caring for her."

Nancy is survived by her two sisters and brothers; husband Larry, daughter Nicole and husband Tom; son Benjamin and wife Darell, three grandchildren, Jackson, Josephine and Joyce; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life for Nancy will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 15th at the United Methodist Church, 275 N. Halcyon Rd, Arroyo Grande, CA. Donations in her name can be made to the Arroyo Grande United Methodist Children's Center at the church address.