Nancy Lea Wonders Reese, 86, passed away on May 1, 2014 at her home of 61 years in Winnetka, Illinois. Daughter of the late Alma and Jack Deem, she was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on July 3, 1927. She lived there until graduating from high school.
She met her late husband, Harry Browne Reese, at Ohio State University, and after their marriage in 1947, they spent three years in Massachusetts where he attended Harvard Law School and she had a year at Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School. In 1953 the couple moved to Winnetka, Illinois when Harry became a Professor of Law at Northwestern University’s School of Law. Nancy was soon involved in children’s activities with the Brownies and Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Sunday school teaching at Christ Episcopal Church, and the Hubbard Woods PTA.
She was preceded in death by her husband in September 1991. She is survived by the oldest Reese child, Ellen, now living in New Mexico; David, Susan, and John all in Oregon; and Gwendolyn (known as Wendy) in Northbrook, Illinois. They have given the Reese family 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She is also survived by a sister-in-law and her husband, Eleanor Reese Essman and Dr. Paul J. Essman of Wellston, along with nieces and nephews.
A celebration of life service for Nancy will be held at the Jenkins Funeral Chapel in Wellston on Saturday, June 28 at 1 p.m.
Friends may call at the Jenkins Chapel from 12 p.m. until the time of services. Interment will follow in the Ridgewood Cemetery in Wellston. Family and friends are invited to a gathering at the Wellston Depot immediately following cemetery services.
The family suggests memorial contributions in Nancy’s memory be made to the John Patrick Albright Foundation, 33 Woodland Park Dr., Parkersburg, West Virginia 26104.