CELEBRATIONS
An Old Soul Turns 65 Years Young
A Child of God, a Trailblazer, and a Spotify Star
My sister Nancy loves the simple things in life: family, God, and drag shows. Not necessarily in that order.
Her love of drag shows is not a lurid fascination, but rather a reflection of her passionate interest in the human condition. The most empathetic soul on the planet, she has always identified with those who are too often shunned by society. She loves the quirky ones, the nerdy ones, and most importantly anyone who needs to be lifted up and celebrated.
The Old Soul
The ultimate old soul, she realized early that life is more rich when you surround yourself with interesting people. I’m guessing she learned this from my dad, who was the king of surrounding himself with a menagerie of interesting people with great stories to tell.
Nancy longs to connect with other old souls. That’s probably what made her relationship with my mom’s mom so enduring. She was drawn to “Grandmommy” as if they had known each other in another life.
It is hard to think of Grandmommy without thinking of Nancy by her side, digging into old stories that likely none of her other grandchildren could have been bothered to hear.
When my dad was on his deathbed, Nancy refused to leave his side. She would not miss her calling to help him leave this world in peace. When she called to tell me he had died, she simply said, “He did it.”
Given her unwavering love of God, I took that to mean he won the ultimate prize, eternal life in Heaven. In retrospect I don’t think she could have lived with herself if she had given up on him in his moment of both greatest need and most magnificent opportunity.
The Trailblazer
Like the best old souls, she loves both the old and the young. She spent decades teaching the youngest kids in her church community about God, giving them a foundation of faith that will be the bedrock for lives that, like hers, are likely to be focused far more on others than on themselves.
When she retired, her commitment to enriching the lives of her church’s youth was celebrated from the pulpit, surely both an uncomfortable moment for someone who would rather shine the spotlight on others, but undoubtedly also one that made her enormous heart grow even larger.
A two-time Camper of the Period at the beloved Fort Scott Camp in southwest Ohio, Nancy was a trailblazer for my siblings and me, who not only followed her to Fort Scott, but embraced it as a second home, like she did.
Her approach to camp was far from the only example she set for me and my siblings though. It is no coincidence that faith, volunteerism, and hysterical laughter are hallmarks of ours, as well.
Nancy laughs like no one is watching, which is exactly how it should be. Everyone who has ever spent time with her can close their eyes, conjure up that laugh in their memory banks, and immediately start cracking up. It’s the kind of laugh that is often accompanied by tears streaming down her face and an urgent need for an adult diaper.
Amazingly, you can pull on threads of Nancy’s life and still discover surprises. It took me until this week to discover that she’s the only Dunn family member to have had a song written about her. Go ahead, look it up by searching her name on Spotify…you’ll be singing it the rest of the day.
The Only Thing She Got Wrong
The one thing Nancy got truly wrong happened early in life. Just old enough to know how to spell, Nancy used Lincoln Logs to write “Nobody loves me” on the floor of her bedroom. Fortunately for her, and for all of us who have been blessed to have her in our lives, she couldn’t have been more wrong.
Happy birthday Nan!
