NANCY HEGLAR HENRY

June 20,1938 - December 14, 2025

Nancy Heglar Henry passed away at the age of 87, on Sunday, December 14, 2025, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane following an illness of several months.  She was born Nancy Lee Heglar on June 20, 1938, in St. John, Washington.  Nancy was the eldest of two daughters born to Robert and Marian (Mulkey) Heglar.

Nancy had an idyllic childhood in the wheat farming town of St. John, raised by her loving parents Bob and Marian.  She was very proud of being the descendant of Whitman County pioneers, who homesteaded near St. John in 1882.  Nancy excelled in school in St. John, had many friends, and enjoyed time spent in the summers at Priest Lake, Idaho.  She was also active in Girl Scouts and Rainbow Girls in St. John.  Nancy also enjoyed a great and loving relationship with her younger sister, Margaret, and they remained very close throughout their lives.  She graduated in 1956 from St. John High School, following in her mother Marian's footsteps as class valedictorian.

Nancy then attended Washington State University in Pullman, where she became a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.  She made many lifelong Pi Phi friendships and remained an active alumnus for the rest of her life, including during her 50s serving as an alumni adviser to Pi Phi chapters in the Pacific Northwest including the WSU chapter.   Nancy graduated from WSU in 1960 with a degree in education.  She was a lifelong "Coug," always following and supporting the Cougar football and basketball teams.  While at WSU, Nancy met her future husband, William T. "Bill" Henry, a WSU student from Colfax, Washington. She always enjoyed telling the story of how her grandmother and Bill's grandmother were best friends as young school teachers in Colfax in the early 1900's.

Nancy and Bill were married in 1958 in St. John, beginning a loving marriage that lasted almost 65 years until Bill's death in 2023.  They became the parents of three children, Robert, Reed, and Renee.  Nancy was a wonderful mother, always supporting and helping her children succeed in all of their activities and endeavors, clearly showing them what unconditional love looked and felt like.  Her children have many fond memories of fun summers spent at the family cabins at Priest Lake and Hayden Lake, skiing at Schweitzer in Sandpoint, and many fun family road trips.  She was also a very loving and involved grandmother in her later years.

After graduating from WSU, Nancy taught fourth grade in Garfield, Washington for one year.  She and Bill then moved to Cheney for a year while Bill finished his degree at Eastern Washington University.  The family then moved to Spokane in 1963, where Bill embarked on his career as a stock broker.  They first lived in a house on Congress Street, before moving to West 27th Avenue in 1965, where Nancy and Bill raised their children.

In Spokane, Nancy was a homemaker at first, but always very active in serving her community.  She volunteered for the Junior League, participating in many community service projects over the years.  She was also active in the PEO Sisterhood and their philanthropic activities.  She served as an art docent at the Washington State Pavilion during the Expo 74 World's Fair. During 1974 Nancy became involved with the Hutton Settlement, where she served on the Board of Trustees for 50 years, retiring in 2023.  She was a very active board member, working hard to support the mission of the Hutton Settlement to provide a stable and supportive home life for children in need.  Her Hutton Settlement service was a lifelong passion for her. After her children were grown, Nancy embarked on a successful ten-year career as a residential real estate broker with Tomlinson/Black in Spokane.  Nancy also took an active role in managing the family farmland, which was passed down from her pioneer great grandparents.  Never forgetting her roots in the Palouse, she was a generous donor to the St. John Golf Club and to the St. John Historical Museum.

Nancy also had an adventurous spirit and enjoyed traveling with Bill around the world.  They visited over one hundred countries and all seven continents. Nancy rode shot gun and was the navigator, while Bill drove as they travelled the world by car for many years.  She and Bill also enjoyed spending time in the winter in the Palm Springs, California area, where many of their friends wintered.

At Hayden Lake Country Club, where she was a long-term member and played golf, Nancy was thrilled to give her grandchildren the opportunity to learn the game during the club's annual summer tournament for young players, Mughunters. Her grandchildren have many fond memories of that tournament and their time staying with their Nana and Papa at the lake, which was an annual 4-week ritual each summer for many years. They tried her patience at times, but she was always so happy and excited to spend that time with them.

Nancy was a very social person with many lifelong friends.  In her younger years, Nancy was an avid skier and tennis player, sharing those times with her family and friends, sometimes meeting new friends along the way.  She was an expert scrabble player competing in epic games with her friends. In her later years, she enjoyed playing mah jongg and socializing with her friends at the Rockwood South Hill retirement community.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents Robert and Marian Heglar and her husband Bill Henry.  She is survived by her sister Margaret Heglar Hanson (Rick) of Bend, Oregon; and her children Rob Henry (Monica van der Mars), of Missoula, Montana; Reed Henry, of Austin, Texas; and Renee Henry Pedersen, of Bellevue, Washington.  Nancy is also survived by her grandchildren, Blake Henry (27), Grant Henry (24), Ella Henry (22), and Nicole Pedersen (15).

There will be a memorial celebration of Nancy's life on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at 2:30 p.m., at the Rockwood South Hill Event Center, 2903 E. 25th Ave. in Spokane.  Memorial donations in her name may be made to the Hutton Settlement, 9907 E. Wellesley Ave., Spokane, WA 99206 (https://huttonsettlement.org/get-involved).  Corbeill Funeral Homes in Colfax is handling the funeral arrangements.