Woodstock, Vermont

Nancy Kaye (Hansen) Peterson died at home on August 26 ^th from Alzheimer's disease and colon cancer.

She was born in Muskegon, MI on September 30 ^th ,1942 and graduated with honors from Muskegon Heights High School in 1960. She attended St. Olaf College from 1960-61 where she met her husband Lynn.

They were married in Grand Haven, MI in 1962 and began married life in New York City where Nancy worked at the Presbyterian Hospital and attended Columbia's college while Lynn attended Columbia medical school. In 1965 Nancy and Lynn moved to Boston where Lynn began a surgical internship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Nancy worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

In July, 1967 they moved to Bethesda, Maryland where Nancy completed her college education at George Washington University while Lynn completed his military service at the of National Institutes of Health.

They returned to Boston in 1969 where Nancy earned a Masters degree in teaching at Simmons College and Lynn completed his training in general surgery. at the Brigham. In 1973 Lynn joined the Harvard Medical School faculty where he taught students in surgery and ethics, did a variety of research projects and cared for patients until he retired in 2004. It was in the Boston area that Nancy raised her children Kathryn and Matthew and developed her passion for Bernese Mountain Dogs.

From 1983 until 1985, Nancy, Lynn and their children lived in Oxford, England where Lynn studied ethics and they traveled extensively as a family in Europe. Later Nancy and Lynn traveled in the far east, the middle east, central and south America and Canada.

Nancy and Lynn came to love the New England countryside, especially Vermont, so they purchased a home and 103 acres of forestland in 1988 in Woodstock's Curtis Hollow. They completed a renovation of their home in 2002 and moved to Curtis Hollow permanently in 2004. Nancy and Lynn joined Woodstock's North Unitarian-Universalist Society in 2004 where they have been active members. Nancy was a member of the Caring Committee, worked on the church's community dinners for 10 years and participated in book and discussion groups.

In 2013 Nancy developed Alzheimer's disease which progressed to an advanced stage by 2017. She received lots of care at Springfield's Adult Day Care program as well as at the Thompson Senior Center and for 6 months at the Scotland House. She developed an advanced stage of colon cancer in 2017; this was treated with surgery but it recurred in her brain this year aggravating her Alzheimer's. She received excellent care for 3 months in the Memory Unit at the Village in White River Junction and Bayada provided excellent care for Nancy at home for the last month of her life. Nancy leaves her husband Lynn of 57 years, her daughter Kathryn, grandchildren Kiran and Freya and son-in-law Roy. She is predeceased by her sister Sally and son Matthew.

A memorial service is planned for 10:30 am on Saturday , September 28th at the North Chapel, 7 Church St, Woodstock, VT.  In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the North Chapel in Nancy's memory.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock, VT. An on line guest book can be found at cabotfh.com