Birth date: Sep 21, 1938 Death date: Nov 4, 2016
CLASBY, NANCY TENFELDE, 78, beloved author and teacher at the University of Miami, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, friend to all and fierce advocate for social justice, passed away peacefully in her sleep Friday November 4th. N Read Obituary
Nancy & I met in the early 70s due to a shared interest in civil and prisoner rights. She seemed familiar to me somehow but I knew we had never met, and brushed away the feeling. We became friends and one day drove together to visit a central Florida prison. Passing the time, Nancy told me about meeting and marrying her husband Gene and that, early in their careers, Gene had taught at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., while she taught at a nearby Catholic women's college. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in my head and I asked her: "Did you teach at Trinity College and were you pregnant ?" Nancy was so stunned she almost ran off the road into the deep black Belle Glade muck. "Were you one of my students ?" she asked, bewildered. "No" I replied, "But I remember now seeing you in the halls, as I went to and from classes. You certainly stood out -- there weren't any other distinctly pregnant young women in that late 1960s environment of single women and nuns !" We laughed and marveled in disbelief that we had known each other several years at that point, and I had never made the connection. I remember looking for that pretty young teacher in the halls, and feeling happy every time I saw her, without being able -- or needing -- to analyze why. Nancy has been one of the most treasured and admired people I have had in my life, and I am blessed to have known her. With deepest sympathy to her family and friends, Mary Kenefick Keating
Nancy and I became friends as freshmen roommates at Marquette University in Milwaukee when we were 18 years old, and remained friends to her death a few days ago. I last spoke with her on her birthday several weeks ago, and she came to visit me in New York last March where she attended my poetry reading from my new book, SPIRIT ASCENDING.. I treasured our friendship and recognized from our first year as roommates that she was a person of great intellect, absolute naturalness, kindness, and deep spirituality. I will miss her terribly, and pray that God has already taken her into His loving embrace. Nina Carey Tassi, 11/5/16
