Nancy Maren Anderson floated away from this earthly life she loved–and for which she was so deeply well-suited–with ease, grace, and style on Monday, March 9, 2026, at her home in Salt Lake City. She knew just how to do it, adjusting her breathing until it released her. The relentlessness of age may be the primary reason for what seemed to be her deliberate choice to venture into the afterlife. She leaves behind two gifted nephews, D. Lee and B. Craig Anderson; their wonderful wives, Karen and Ruth; and her beloved daughter, Shawn. She was 102. There were friends and admirers who, in her final years, were happy to stand in her light. She was an influencer before there was a term for it.
She was born on a ranch called Cobblemore at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon on May 24, 1923 to the extraordinary Danish couple Irene M. Nichols and Marius M. Hesse. Her mother was a Christian Scientist, and Marius belonged to the Lutheran faith. As an only child with fellow creatures as her playmates, Nancy developed an uncanny kinship with all animals (with the exception of cats, whom she sometimes dressed up as surrogate dolls), and taught her children to be fearless in their company. In these early years, she rode her horse to public schools, and together they explored the landscape of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
A 1941 graduate of Jordan High School, she matriculated as a business student at the University of Utah. She married the handsome, elegant Dewane M. Anderson, known to all as Duke (a nickname given to him by his friends), and gave birth to Susan Irene Anderson in 1946, and Shawn M. Anderson two years later. She and Duke moved to Kingman, Arizona when Susan was a baby, where he worked in finance for his employer, Utah Construction Company. They later relocated to Salina, Kansas for 12 months, returning to Utah in 1964, where they lived for the remainder of their lives. Nancy continued to elevate her chosen role as a multi-talented homemaker. She was a loving, devoted, tireless, resourceful mother. She became an accomplished seamstress and cook. The costumes she designed, sewed, and embellished for her daughters’s dance performances, for example, are tiny masterpieces of theatricality. She volunteered for two nonprofit organizations that provided essential resources and services for the disabled population of Salt Lake, including blind children. After her daughters were grown, she accepted a position as a supervisor for AT&T, then a global communication powerhouse, managing a crew of linemen in Montana.
At 5’2″, her size was diminutive, but her energy was boundless. She could maintain the intellectual focus and physical effort required to sustain a project until it was finished to her satisfaction. Her standards were high, always. She never lowered the bar. That would have disgusted her. She was smart, sharp, spirited, determined, capable of getting her feet back under her after a tragedy, and with a tart sense of humor like no one else, and a head-turning style. On a Saturday night, she and Duke could be found dancing to Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and other immortals at the Rainbow Rendezvous. In her red lipstick, she always looked like a party.
Visitation and internment are entrusted to Starks Funeral Parlor. Burial will take place at Mt. Olivet cemetery.
In her honor, please consider wearing a hat.
