Nancy Woodward Pope, 89, formerly of Falmouth Massachusetts and Naples, FL died Monday December 2, 2013 at Wayside Hospice in Wayland, Massachusetts after a period of declining health. A memorial service will be held Monday December 30 at 11:00 am at the Chapel at Edgell Grove Cemetery, Framingham, MA. For more info see www.mem.com.
Born in Boston, Nancy was the daughter of the late Sidney C and Barbara D Woodward. She is survived by three daughters, Barbara A. Foster, Deborah Pope-Lance, and Sandra Pope-Budge, all of Natick, by a son-in-law, Elton Pope-Lance, and by three grandchildren, Trevor, Cassandra and Honor. Her twin sister, Janice W. Bacon of Tarpon Springs, FL and many nieces and nephews survive her as well. Her husband of 56 years, Douglas W. Pope, predeceased her in 2005 as did her brother, Fred E Woodward.
Growing up in old Framingham Center, Nancy had many happy memories. Her parents, who met when her father offered himself for the lead in a play her mother was to direct, were active in the art and cultural life of the Center. Her father ran The Bow Window, an antique shop, and played Scrooge in the local production of A Christmas Carol, produced by his wife. Her mother taught ball room dancing and etiquette and wrote, directed, choreographed and produced many stage shows, among them, the annual First Parish Follies in which her red headed twin daughters often starred. Nancy recalled one particularly difficult rehearsal, as they practiced their dance number, when their mother stood before them commanding, “Smile, damn it.” Nancy and her twin sister, Janice, were part of a group of “Center” girls who were friends through 12 years of school and stayed in touch with each other throughout their lives---Louise Vialle, Joan Balch Vinal, Barbara Harrington Bond, Diantha Seaman Pack, Janice Dunlop Baroodi, Natalie Dowse, and Helen Foster Jodrey
Nancy majored in math in college, receiving a BA in 1946 from the University of Massachusetts. When her children could dress and feed themselves, she started graduate school at Case Western Reserve University and finally “got her Masters”, in education, from Northeastern University in 1970.
For many years Nancy was the reading specialist/teacher at Charles River School, Dover, Massachusetts. She was an early practicioner of the Orton-Gillingham method of reading education, a phonics based system that teaches the basics of word formation before whole words, and utilizes sight, sound and kinesthetics. These methods are particularly effective for children with dyslexia and other learning differences and with Nancy’s instruction many of her students finally learned to read often after years of frustration. Among the multi-sensory methods Nancy devised were puppet plays for which she wrote simple scripts and crafted many paper mache puppets and Douglas constructed a folding theatre.
Nancy met her husband Douglas in February 1949 while she and Janice were skiing at Jericho Ski area in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Doug had asked her out but not knowing Nancy was an identical twin kept he kept waving at Janice, “the wrong twin” and insisting, “I’ll pick you up at 8.” Janice demanded, “Nancy, you straighten that man out right now.” Nancy did, and together they parented and grandparented, learned to square dance, play a better game of bridge, and (mostly) to use computers. They enjoyed boating and camping and in retirement traveling in their motor home. They lived in, renovated, expanded and constructed 13 homes, first in Framingham and then in Norfolk, Virginia, Warsaw, Wisconsin, in Rocky River and Westlake, Ohio, and in Bedford, Hanover, Medfield (2), Braintree, Dennis, Centerville, and Yarmouth, Massachusetts and finally in Naples, Florida.
Like her grandfather, Frank E Woodward, Nancy was an avid and able genealogist. A member of The Mayflower Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution. she researched other family’s genealogies and processed more than 100 Mayflower Society applications in her southern Florida chapter. Nancy’s interest in genealogy led to travel to cemeteries near and far and to town clerks’ offices throughout New England, eastern Canada and England.
Nancy had many “hidden” talents. She played the trumpet, the piano, and the recorder and in more recent years bass drum in the Fourth of July parade at Quisset. She could recall the lyrics to many popular songs and rendered these often, though she claimed she could not sing a note. She sewed clothes for her self and her children, could knit, crochet, and quilt. She could ably decoupage, paint and stencil furniture. She could orchestrate dinner so that every dish appeared on the table at the same time.
Among everyday ordinary things Nancy liked climbing the mountains of New Hampshire, gazing across the rocky coast of Maine, and swimming in the crisp “delicious” salt water of Cape Cod. She liked poetry, reciting many classics by heart. And she loved romantic comedies and rousing musicals whose lively repartee or endearing song promised true love or a “happy someday...when all the things you are are mine.”
The family requests no flowers. Memorial gifts in Nancy’s name may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice.
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