SALEM, N.H. — Nancy Cutting Willis passed away in Salem, N.H., on April 26, 2020, after a brief illness. She was born in Nichols, Conn. in 1926, daughter of Dorothy Quincy (Johnson) and Samuel Cutting. In 1950 she married Bill Willis (also of Nichols). She and Bill raised three children in Nichols and Newtown.
She is survived by her daughter Diane and her husband Randy Ellis of Londonderry, N.H., with grandchildren Meghan, Andrew and Amy and great-grandchildren Emily, Olivia, Collin, and Wyatt; daughter, Gail and her husband Ken Martin, of Bristol, Vt., and granddaughter Laura, and son, Peter and his wife Kate, of Albany, N.H.; granddaughters Jessie, Mandy, Tegan and Zara and great-grandchildren Boone, Dodge, Royal, Opal and Eden.
In her youth, Nancy went to Chatham Woods Camp in New Hampshire, where she learned to love the mountains and everything in nature. Throughout her life in summer she hiked the White Mountains and in winter she skied and ice skated. She went to Green Mountain College and returned to her hometown to work as secretary, where she married Bill, who had just finished time in the Navy and in college. They had a wonderful, close life together raising their family and sharing adventures in northern New England, the American southwest, and the Canadian Northwest Territories, enjoying awesome canoe trips. They were a few weeks away from their 50th wedding anniversary when Bill passed on their farm in Lincoln, Vt.
Nancy lived in Lincoln for many years. She enjoyed the many visits and adventures she had with her family, including her brother and his wife, Sam and Joan Cutting, of Ferrisburgh. She loved to garden, quilt, sew clothes, and make baskets. Many people in Lincoln made their first basket under her tutelage.
In her later years, she moved into the Weathervane and loved the close-knit and caring community it provided. Her life revolved around jigsaw puzzles, knitting, playing cards, The United Church, the Sunday Afternoon Knitting Group, Ladies Aid Industria, and her very special friends, including Randy, Dave, Pat, Eleanor, Reed and Alice, Jen, folks at the Lincoln General Store, and her life-long friend, Cilla.◊