Nancy Winifred (Hickman) Streightiff

                In the presence of family, Nancy Streightiff, 92, entered eternity on Saturday, October 1, 2022, at GoldPine Home, Bemidji, where she had resided since March 17, 2020.  Sanford Hospice assisted with her care at GoldPine for ten weeks before her death.  We are very grateful for the loving care she received while at GoldPine, especially for their extra attentiveness to the needs of residents for family interaction during endless months of pandemic stress.

                A memorial service will be 10:30 a.m., Thursday, July 13, 2023 at Bethel Lutheran Church, Bemidji. Followed by lunch. Inurnment will be in Forest Grove Cemetery, Mizpah.

                Nancy lived a full and varied life, beginning with the Great Depression and its effect on her father’s livelihood and the family’s lifestyle.  Eventually, her father recovered from the Depression’s negative impact on his real estate business by becoming a poultry dealer.  He gathered chickens from farms in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and transported them to Philadelphia or Baltimore for slaughter.  Nancy was often tasked with crawling into tiny corners of farmers’ henhouses to extract reluctant birds.  Owing to the family’s chicken business, tomato farming, and a large garden, they never went hungry.  

                Upon graduation from high school, Nancy attended Shippensburg State Teachers College, where she met Bill, whom she married in 1950.  After spending a year at Shippensburg, she earned a business practices certificate, which was the basis for all of her secretarial and bookkeeping jobs while the couple’s children were growing up. 

                Household moves were always part of Nancy’s life.  During her childhood, her parents did such a nice job fixing up whatever rental they lived in that the owners often decided to sell it; but, of course, the family could not afford to buy, so they moved on.  Fortunately, all their homes were in the general area of Lititz, Pennsylvania, where they maintained a church home for many decades.

                Bill and Nancy moved to his home town in 1953, where they had a 15-acre fruit farm, their children were born, Bill was a high school business teacher, and Nancy worked in the office of the local shoe heel manufacturer.  When Bill went into school administration in 1959, they moved to a little town in South Dakota, which had accepted him on the basis of a long-distance interview.  His work subsequently took them to towns in Nebraska, Alaska, Wyoming, Oregon, Missouri, and North Dakota. 

                Nancy was an attentive and involved mommy while her children grew, including becoming a Camp Fire Girls leader for Beverly’s club and taking piloting ground school classes with Allen (he was too young to drive, so she decided not to waste her time after taking him there).  Among her lifelong interests were needlepoint, reading, jigsaw puzzles, and domestic and international travel; and she loved dogs. 

                After Bill died suddenly in 1988, she decided to finish the retirement home they were building near Mizpah, Minnesota, and lived there until 2001.  She enjoyed being part of organizations in the area:  Mizpah’s Bethesda Lutheran Church and its Women’s Missionary Fellowship, Northwoods Mission to Petrozavodsk, and the Northome City Library.   

                In 2001, so as to be closer to a major medical facility, Nancy moved to Bemidji.  She found a new church home with Bethel Lutheran and became active with its social ministries, volunteering on the church’s behalf with the Bemidji Community Food Shelf (serving on its board for several years) and Churches United.  Within Bethel’s congregation, she was elected to the church council, served as chair of social outreach, and eventually took on the job of coordinating funeral dinners.  In addition to her church work, she volunteered at the community hospital. 

               Family Christmas and other gatherings were the most special thing to Nancy, whether at her home or those of her son or his in-laws.  She also went with Allen and family to Daytona Beach, Florida.  She attended graduations and both of her granddaughters’ weddings.  When her great-grandsons were very young, she gave them rides in her lap as she operated her lift chair.  She met her infant great-granddaughter four months before she died.

              It was in 1992, when her sister Carol Ann invited her on a trip to Iceland, that she discovered a love for travel tours.  Over the years, she went to many places in the contiguous United States, Canada, Scandinavia, Europe (including Oberammergau), the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and Central and South America.  When she asked her children if they minded that she was spending their inheritance, they both responded that it was her money, so “go enjoy it;” so she did.  

              Nancy is survived by her daughter Beverly; son Allen and his wife Jennie, along with their daughters Ashley (husband Jon, boys Declan and Axel) and Nicole (husband Josh, daughter Arabella); sister-in-law Pat; nephew and nieces Barrett, Kendy, April, and Missy; close-knit paternal cousins; and special friends who shared their love with Beverly during her years as Nancy’s caregiver.  Nancy was predeceased by her parents; husband; and siblings Mary, Carol Ann, and David. 

               The Bemidji Community Food Shelf, PO Box 3118, Bemidji, MN 56619, is a suggested recipient of memorial gifts.  

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