Nancy B. Hughes

July 27, 1931 - April 4, 2011

After a life filled with family, friends, faith, adventure and love, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, Nancy Joan Bjork Hughes of West Fairlee died Monday, April 4 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. James Raymond Hughes, her husband of 55 years, and two of her children were by her side. The cause of death was complications from ovarian cancer, with which she had lived for several years. She was born to Carl Irving and Isabel Scott Bjork in San Francisco. She lived in Milbrae, CA before returning to elementary school and Lowell High School in San Francisco where she was editor of The Lowell. She walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on its opening day and again 50 years later. She met her future husband, Jim, while attending Stanford University and graduated from Los Angeles State University in 1953. After marrying on June 25, 1955 she moved to Japan where she taught English to shipyard workers in order to live closer to her husband's naval base in Yokosuka. Back in the United States and in Boston for Jim's medical education she welcomed three children to the world. She took them all to Calcutta, India for Jim's two year stint on the Johns Hopkins faculty. In 1967, the Hughes family settled in Norwich where Nancy was an active member of the Norwich Congregational Church, a special education tutor, and an assistant town clerk. In 1969 a fourth child joined the family. After ten years in Norwich and two years in Michigan, Nancy and family moved to metro Washington, DC, first to Gaithersburg, MD, then to Capitol Hill. In Washington, Nancy worked for the Office of Church in Society and the Council for a Livable World. She and her husband were founding members of the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley in Germantown, MD. Upon retirement, she and Jim returned to her beloved Upper Valley where she built a home and garden on Lake Fairlee. Among her many current and past activities she was a member of the First Congregational Church of Thetford, UCC on Thetford Hill, and a member of the Grafton Orange Association, UCC, chair of the West Fairlee Democratic Caucus, a library board member, a Hospice activist, and a former Advisory Council member of Vermont Public Radio. In addition to her family and friends, she loved her community, the search for peace and justice, flowers, birds, international travel, a long walk and her many pets. She is survived by her husband, her children, Sarah Sigel of Manchester, NH, Robert Hughes of Palm City, FL, Scott Hughes of Seattle, WA and Tom Hughes of Shelburne, VT, her sister Carolyn Bjork of Costa Mesa , CA, and her four grandchildren. A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 9 at 10:00 AM at the First Congregational Church of Thetford on Thetford Hill. A celebration of Nancy's life will be held this summer on what would have been her 80th birthday. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the First Congregational Church of Thetford (One Great Hour of Sharing), Vermont Public Radio, or the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire. The hale Funeral Home of Thetford Center, VT is in charge of arrangements. To view an online guestbook go to www.halefuneralhomes.com To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Nancy B. Hughes, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.