Madelene Lenann Nye

when she passed on Tuesday, January 21, in Nashville, Tennessee. The lives of

Lenann and her husband, John William Nye, who passed in 2015, will be celebrated in a

joint memorial service at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 15, at First Presbyterian Church

in Longview, Texas. The family will receive and visit with friends and members of the

community beginning at 1:00 p.m.

Lenann was born to Edwin Ford Beckenbach and Dr. Madelene Simons Beckenbach of

Austin, Texas on July 6, 1943. She was raised in the Pacific Palisades, California and

graduated Marlborough School for Girls in Los Angeles in 1961. Lenann earned a BA in

Psychology, and both an MS and EdD in Educational Psychology in 1973 from the

University of Southern California. Lenann met her husband, John, in Los Angeles. They

celebrated their engagement on February 15, 1970, and were married on August 22,

1970.

Lenann and John lived in Longview, Texas from 1981 to 2013, where they raised their

three children: John Edwin Nye, Madelene Lenann Nye, and Shelby Marie Bush. In

Texas, Lenann dedicated her career to child and family development services focused

on children with cognitive and psychological disabilities and vulnerabilities.

Lenann is most remembered by her family as a wife who adored her husband and a

mother who was tirelessly dedicated to her children’s academic and extracurricular

growth. She personally enjoyed gardening, sewing, and reading and loved spending

time in the summer with her family at the Simons’s ranch near Uvalde, Texas.

Lenann was preceded in death by her mother and father, her husband, and her brother,

Edwin Simons Beckenbach. She is survived by her three children, six grandchildren, ten

nieces and nephews, and sister Suzy Manderson.

Memorial gifts can be made in Lenann’s honor to Sweet Sleep, her daughter’s charity

that cares for vulnerable children in Uganda - http://www.sweetsleep.org, PO Box 1546,

Brentwood, TN 37024.Cards and other condolences can be sent to The Nye Family, 5620 S. Hillview Dr, Brentwood, TN 37027.