Nancy Nash-Cummings
Windsor, VT – Writer, weekly newspaper founder, friend phenom, and
bucker of trends, Nancy Nash-Cummings of Windsor died Monday September
1, 2025. She was surrounded by her family and her beautiful flower
gardens. Thanks to the choice provided to her by Act 39, she was able
to pick the day of her departure.
Nancy died in the home that she moved to in 1969 with her then husband
and two children. A third child and a divorce followed the move to
Windsor, a town and community that Nancy adored. She was an ardent
proponent of the town and actualized the sentiment of the promotional
poster that continues to hang in her home: “I found the real me in
Windsor”.
Hers was a rarity, in that her devotion to the community was put into
action. She co-founded the Windsor Nursery School and Kindergarten,
taught adult basic education at the Windsor Family Center, and was
chairperson of the Windsor Public Library Book Committee. She served
on the boards of Windsor County Extension Service, Upstreet, Inc. and
Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center when it was still
independent. She was a member of the board of civil authority and
relished her role as a justice of the peace. She loved the ritual and
joy of officiating weddings.
In 1974 Nancy co-founded The Windsor Chronicle. She was the undeniable
spirit of the paper. She wrote a weekly, much beloved column called
“Scoop”- a Herb Cain-esque blend of community news and personal
reflections. To get the Windsor Chronicle off the ground, she reported
the news, shot and developed her own photographs, gathered community
support, and worked so many late, late nights. Faced with the obstacle
of how to physically publish the paper, she co-founded the Chronicle
Press in 1975 so that the newspaper could be printed in Windsor. She
did all this while balancing the needs of raising three children as a
single mother. She was indomitable. Her solution to needing help at
home, she took in boarders in exchange for babysitting and vegetable
gardening.
Nancy was also a freelance reporter for the Rutland Herald. One of her
regular beats was the former maximum-security prison in Windsor. She
later freelanced for Country Journal and Art New England magazines.
While freelancing, she did a story on long haul truckers traveling for
three days with various drivers transporting a Cone Blanchard machine
to Chicago. Her CB handle was “Lipstick”.
Nancy and her friend, Anne Adams, loved receiving mail so much that
they started an advice column. Although originally hoping to be a
mashup of Ask Heloise, Dear Abby, and the Playboy Advisor, the column,
“Ask Anne & Nan” became a popular and humorous home solutions
nationally syndicated newspaper column. The column led to three books,
a weekly call-in program on Vermont Public Radio and an appearance on
ABC’s The Home Show. People everywhere learned unusual how-to’s, among
them a unique recipe for steaming foil-wrapped fish in your
dishwasher.
In 1981, Nancy married Richard Cummings. For 44 years, they led a life
of love and adventure. They took agrarianism by the horns. On their
wedding day, Rich slopped the pigs in his wedding tux. Together, they
traveled to 42 countries. 38 years ago they purchased a small,
thoroughly vandalized house in the Bahamas. The house, like their
community in the Bahamas, reflects the time and love which has been
put into each. The house continues to be entirely off-grid.
Nancy Adair Nash was born on Sept. 10, 1941, in Minneapolis, MN, the
daughter of Edgar Vanderhoef and Nancy Adair Van Slyke Nash. The
youngest of three children, she grew up in Wayzata, MN.
She graduated in a class of 20 from St. Mary’s Hall in Faribault, MN,
in 1959. A quotation in her high school yearbook said, “Her charm and
fascinating conversation will draw friends around her wherever she
goes,” which was, in fact, foreshadowing a lifelong truth. She
graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, in 1963 with a
degree in early childhood development.
Nan loved sweet treats (hot fudge sundaes, M&Ms, Jujubes, Red Hots and
angel food cake with Seven Minute frosting), all manner of picnics,
her Bahamian family, her gorgeous gardens, and being in motion. Her
daily swims at Kennedy Pond continued until last fall. She loved
camping and spending time with Rich at their Roxbury cabin.
Friendships were deeply important to her and throughout her life she
nurtured a global community of devoted friends who brightened her days
with sweet notes, funny videos, and just the right book suggestion.
Windsor being a small community, when Nan was nursing her youngest
child the local pediatrician asked if she would consider nursing a
baby at the hospital whose mother was unable. She held this act as one
of her proudest achievements.
Survivors include her husband of Windsor; three children, Lucinda
Walker (Peter Money) of Brownsville, Suzanne Walker (Susannah Dunlap)
of Lopez Island, WA, and Philip Walker (Tim Birchall, d. 2017) of San
Francisco, CA; a brother, Nicholas Nash (Karen) of White Bear Lake,
MN; and two grandchildren, Hartley Walker Money of Philadelphia, PA,
and Lily Walker Money of Boston, MA.
She was predeceased by her parents; a sister, Lucinda N. Dudley; and a
niece, Katherine Dudley.
Her strong desire to have a green burial came to fruition. Nan was
buried at the Glade in Windsor’s Ascutney Cemetery.
A celebration of life will be held in 2026.
A voracious reader, memorial contributions may be made to The Windsor
Public Library, 43 State St., Windsor, VT 05089.
The family wishes to thank Bayada Hospice, Susan Watermann of Knight
Funeral Home and Rich Landry of Cemetery Solutions. Condolences may be
expressed in an online guestbook found at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.