Nancy H. Roess

Ann Elizabeth (Nan) Heil Roess, beloved mother of Steven T. Roess of Chicago, Illinois, William J. Roess of Dayton, Ohio, and Jane R. Livermore of Troy, Michigan, died in Lima at age 88 on Friday, August 21, 2015.

Nan Roess, the daughter of Ernest John and Ann Hoegner Heil was born in Lima on May 24, 1927. She had two older brothers, Gene R. Heil and Robert F. Heil, who both preceded her in death.

She was a graduate of Lima Central High School and DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

After graduation, she taught English and Latin at Gomer High School in Gomer, Ohio.

Nan married Thomas J. Roess on June 23, 1951, and worked in the Commercial Department of Ohio Bell Telephone Company in Cleveland, Ohio, while he was in medical school.

She was a Member and Past President of The Lima and Allen County Medical Auxiliary, Member and Past President of the Arbutus Club (a local literary group), Member and Past President of the Shawnee Carlton House Owner’s Association, and a long-time member of the Shawnee Country Club.

Besides her three children, she is survived by her four grandchildren – Katherine Ann MacKenzie (John), Daniel Christian Isley, Claire Elizabeth Roess and Benjamin James Roess – and her daughter-in-law, Rebecca Hawk Roess, her son-in-law, Russell P. Livermore III and her sister-in-law Natalie Gregg Heil.

She will be dearly remembered for her sense of humor and her love of animals, especially dogs, as well as the exceptional spiced pecans that were her signature Christmas gift each year.

In expressing her wish that there be no visitation or funeral services, she left us this 1932 poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye:

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there. I did not die.

Donations in her memory may be made to SICSA (Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals), 2600 Wilmington Pike, Kettering, Ohio 45419. www.sicsa.org

Her ashes will be interred at Woodlawn Cemetery at a future date. She will be truly missed.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.siferd-oriansfuneralhome.com