Feisty Ms. Kuykendall left us Thursday night at the age of 95. We don’t know her last words, but the ambulance attendant remarked after he dropped her off at Christopher House that she had corrected his grammar. Nancy’s fine mind was with her to the end. She was a small woman who worked all her life to gain weight. She bragged once that she was up to a hundred and five.
Nancy worked as a legal secretary in Houston but retired as soon as she could to pursue more important activities, reading and gardening. Her Houston yard was a delight and, as a master gardener, she volunteered in Houston’s parks and gardens, along with her good friend Ann Robinson. They always gave plants their proper botanical names.
Nancy was a passionate liberal who worked to elect women candidates but said, in her later years, “Now it’s up to the younger women to do their part.”
Nancy devoured novels and liked to talk about books, which made her a favorite of this author. She bought my books the minute they came out and had questions the next time we met. Why did I do this? Who was that person based on? Did such and such really happen?
During the ‘70s, Nancy was a member of NOW with a focus on women’s health, using Our Bodies Our Selves as textbook for her seminars. She was a single parent who raised a wonderful daughter. When her health began to fail, she moved to Austin to be near Rebecca, and I was able to see her more often. We will miss Nancy’s wit, humor, and graciousness. She lived a good life.
