Nancy Ann Walsh

Nancy Ann (Worstell) Walsh (76) born on October 14, 1947, in Portsmouth, Ohio died in Morrisville, NC on December 5, 2023, after a long, painful struggle with dementia. Educated at Clark Technical College in Dayton, she was an Army veteran like her two brothers. She married Michael Walsh in Washington DC in 1973 and lived in Virginia Beach until moving to North Carolina in 1988. Nancy served two terms on the NC State Board of Nursing and retired from the Wake County Health Department in 2009 at age 62.

Nancy enjoyed music, shopping, food, life in the Spirit of the Living God, and the parish life of St. Ann in Clayton, and most recently, Mother Teresa in Cary. Nancy had a difficult early life which made her difficult to know and like, but easy to love. Like all we frail humans, Nancy was more saint than sinner but true to her earlier home experiences, she found trust something to be reluctantly extended, and if violated, the offender would receive a volley from a witty, irascible tongue. Balancing that, she was kind and generous, with compassion and empathy, and she would assist anyone in any way she could.

She was preceded in death by three children who died in childbirth (Jessica, Kieran, Rory) brother Kenneth F. Worstell (Brooklyn, MI), mother Anastasia Rickert (Knoxville TN), and stepfather Jack T. Worstell (Dayton, OH).

She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Mike, her children Brendan (Shekinah) of Denver, CO, Bebhinn Do (Kha) of Cary, NC, and Keavy Isaacs (Seth) of Rougemont, NC; brother Terry Worstell (June) of Lafayette, IN; daughter and sister Karen Rachford (Phillip) of Cincinnati, OH, and stepdaughter Kim Daigle of Hartford, Conn; nine grandchildren, Stephen (Anna) Walsh, Alisa Walsh, Ashlyn Walsh, and Sean Walsh all of Denver CO, and Cassandra Do of Cary, NC, Vera and Owen Isaacs of Rougemont, and NC, Jessica Grimes of Cincinnati; two great-grandchildren, Johnathan Wurzelbacher and Wyatt Johnson of Cincinnati OH; and 15 nieces and nephews scattered from Virginia to Florida to Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas and Utah.

Funeral Mass will be held at Mother Teresa Catholic Church, 1125 Mother Teresa Drive in Cary, on Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 2:00 PM. Memorial Rosary on Friday, December 8, 2023 at 10:30 AM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy can be shared below within "Add a Memory" for the Walsh family.