Nancy "Peach" Ryder

CHATHAM – Nancy O. “Peach” Ryder, 68, of Chatham died unexpectedly on Saturday, July 21st at Cape Cod Hospital, after suffering a stroke earlier in the week. She passed peacefully with her daughter Cristen O. Nichols at her side.

Peach was born on February 5th, 1944 in Holyoke, MA and was greatly loved by her parents, James and Mary Olivier. She enjoyed a wonderful childhood in Holyoke with her brothers Robes and Dick, graduating from Holyoke High School in 1962. She went on to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in Art in 1966.

While at the University of Massachusetts, she met and fell in love with John “Billy” Nichols. They married and moved to Chatham, MA in 1966 where they lovingly raised their daughter Cristen O. Nichols. Nancy and Billy were very well known in Chatham, and became loved and appreciated within the fishing community. Peach owned two incarnations of the F/V Cristen that for many years fished off of Cape Cod.

Peach enjoyed a great professional life involved in the fisheries offered by the waters off of the Cape. In May of 1976, she and Billy founded Cape Cod Fisherman's Supply in Chatham, MA, which grew to become a successful supply and equipment store that to this day serves the commercial fishing community of the Outer Cape. Peach continued to run Cape Fish for many years after the death of her husband Billy in 1978. She eventually believed that it was time to retire in 1992 and sold Cape Fish to longtime employees and friends, Robert and Rosemarie Denn who continued to serve the fishing community until they recently passed the reins of Cape Fish in May of 2011 to Dave and Caroline Libby.

Retirement didn't suit Peach and she decided to embark upon the next career in her life by working in the horticultural field here on Cape Cod. Dave and Ann Marie Crocker appreciated her knowledge, energy and love of all things that grow and she began working at Crocker Nurseries in Brewster in 1995. Peach quickly became a loved and appreciated resource to gardeners and greensmen across the Outer Cape. Peach greatly enjoyed being able to go to work each day surrounded by beautiful flowers, plants and coworkers who appreciated her and her love of all things pertaining to gardening. Some may say that her working at Crocker Nurseries only served to nurture her addiction to gardens and they would be right. Her home in Chatham boasts gardens and plantings that would make the most accomplished greensman or gardener jealous. Her passion for gardening can not be better expressed than by viewing her the plantings that she painstakingly tended at her home. Words cannot begin to accurately describe the results of her appreciation for all things green. Peach's gardens, like her, are simply spectacular.

Peach was an active and avid traveler, having visited countless counties around the globe and appreciating the different peoples and cultures that make up our world. She was proud to have visited every continent except Antarctica and would have loved the opportunity to visit there in the future. Her travels afforded her an opportunity to develop an especial fondness for the nations and peoples of East Asia and was planning on visiting Japan this September. She particularly enjoyed being able to travel around the globe with either her daughter Cristen or friends to accompany her and share in the wonder of discovery that this world has to offer.

If you knew Peach, you knew a person who was smart, funny, intelligent, always did the right thing and always led a vibrant and active life. To say that she lived her life to the fullest and on her own terms would be an understatement. Simply, Peach was exceptional in every way and made life brighter for every person she touched.

Peach is survived by her daughter Cristen O. Nichols and her husband Daniel P. Gallagher of Brewster as well as her brothers Richard “Dick” Olivier of Holyoke, MA and Robert “Robes” Olivier and his wife Judi Olivier and their two sons, Evan Olivier and Cory Olivier of Belchertown, MA, and her former husband Robert Ryder of Chatham as well as countless friends here on Cape Cod.

Visiting hours will be at Nickerson Funeral Home in Chatham, MA on Thursday, July 26th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. A private burial will be held on Friday morning with immediate family members at Seaside Cemetery in Chatham. A celebration of her life is to be held on Friday, July 27th, from 4:00 PM on, at Peach's home on Monomoit Lane in West Chatham. Peach's family would like all of her friends to visit so that we can all share our memories over a glass of wine. Peach would have wanted it that way so, if you can attend, please do.

In lieu of flowers, Peach's family asks that you perhaps make a donation in her name to the Animal Rescue League of Boston. She very much loved her cat Gilbert and would have wanted for others to have the opportunity to adopt a pet that needed a good home.

For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com