I have spent quite a few hours contemplating our short little lives these days. The loss of Nancy Meltzer in my life has had a profound impact on me. One that I was not really prepared for. Although, no one is really prepared for loss.
Nancy has been a fixture in my professional life for over two decades now. She was a willing and able mentor when I first moved back to the Seattle area, and took my first Exec. Director job at a Developmental Disabilities agency.
Nancy, for me, was the living example of how one person’s ripples in the pond can reach out and impact the shoreline of our world. I can still hear and feel her energy around me here, at The Arc. Her intensity about learning everything and her determination in challenging a system that she thought to be unfair.
I can picture her in a meeting intently taking notes and questioning speakers. She spent hours on the phone helping families, at the end of their rope, navigating a complex system. There was much joy in her life – she spoke so often about her wonderful grandchildren, about her daughter and of course, her husband, Ron (the saint!).
I used to have this wonderful picture on my phone of Nancy and Margaret Lee with huge smiles on their faces. I think, at the time, we were at the Honey Bear café in Lake Forest park planning an attack on the legislature of some kind or other, as we would do over coffee from time to time. They were my informants. I miss Nancy and will keep her tenacity in my mind and her love in my heart. My heart goes out to those most close to her…………
