Nancy Telling O'Shaughnessy

Nancy Telling O’Shaughnessy, age 70, passed away peacefully the morning of July 26, 2021. She is now reunited with the love of her life, Mark, her late husband and father of their three children, almost 16 years after his untimely passing. She was, of course, smiling and making everyone around her laugh until she took her last breath.

Nancy was peerless in her beauty and impeccable fashion sense. Her wit was always quick and playful and her vivaciousness unparalleled. She had more friends than she could count and as she would say, more than she deserved. Her chocolate chip cookies were as legendary as she was and extra crispy bacon, popcorn, candy, and other less than nutritious comfort foods were her main sources of fuel. She would rather starve than taste a drop of low fat mayonnaise or fat free anything, and was furious when McDonald’s stopped frying their fries in animal fat. A television addict, she could be heard for miles yelling at the TV watching tennis and called her sons-in-law at any hour if the cable or internet went out. No baby boomer learned how to work a laptop faster after discovering the world of online shopping. The mailman, FedEx and UPS drivers all to this day believe her initials are QVC. She would do anything for anyone, but under no circumstances would or should anyone at any time tell her what to do.

Nancy was born on March 20, 1951 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Edward and Nancy Telling. She was the (self-proclaimed) favorite child. After graduating from Hillsdale College she moved to Chicago, Illinois. There her best friends from summers at Camp Nagawicka introduced her to their handsome friend, Mark, at his bar, “O’Shaughnessy’s Take 5”. She hated his entire outfit but luckily loved his shoes, so she helped him clean up after the bar closed and the rest is history. After marrying they moved to Atlanta with Coca-Cola, where they lived in a neighborhood filled with families and friendships that lasted a lifetime. They raised three children, and Nancy made it look easy to juggle it all while her husband frequently traveled the world for work. She was often seen driving morning carpool to St. Judes and Marist in her bathrobe and Velcro rollers and arrived for afternoon pick-up in her tennis skirt after decimating, as she would say, her latest opponent. With eyes in the back of her head, her children never got away with anything, and even as adults with children of their own, everyone knew who was boss and called the shots.

Thanks to the incredible Lung Transplant Team at Emory Hospital and the blessing of a donor, she was given extra time to dote on her 8 grandchildren creating countless memories. Even on her hardest days, she’d throw on a beautiful tunic, Tory Burch slides, spritz some Shalimar and (hopefully) remember to take the velcro roller out of her bangs before regaling everyone around her with her one liners.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Edward, her beloved Mark, and her daughter-in-law Heather. She is survived by her three siblings Pam, Kathy and Cole, her three children, Cole O’Shaughnessy, Anne Massey (Alan), Taylor Richmond (Kip) and her 8 grandchildren (to whom she was “Tutu”) Chandler, Riggs, Harper, Hadley, Collins, Kertley, Connor and newborn baby Macaulay.

She was strong willed, stylish, sassy, an amazing story teller and incredibly special. There will never be another like her and her friends and family miss her so much.

A funeral will be held Monday August 2nd at 11 A.M. at Catholic Church of St. Ann in Marietta.

Think of her when perusing styles at Nordstrom, Talbots, HSN or QVC, all beneficiaries of her love of shopping over the years. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent in her memory to Emory Lung Transplant Program, Office of Gift Accounting, 1762 Clifton Road, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30322 or www.emory.edu/give and designate Lung Transplant program, or call (404) 712-4483 (TO GIVE).