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Obituary of Nancy Hope
Nancy E. Hope, 63, passed away November 6, 2018. Funeral Services celebrating her life will be 2:00 P.M. Saturday December 1, 2018 at St. Matthews Episcopal Church of Kernersville, North Carolina officiated by Rev. Frances Cox.
Nancy was born February 18, 1955 to the late Leon M. Hope and Joan Riley Hope in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Nancy was the second of six children of a career U.S. Army Officer. She grew up in Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, Okinawa, Japan, North Carolina and Bangkok, Thailand before her family settled in North Carolina. Nancy graduated from East Forsyth High School in 1973. She received a B.A. in Political Science in 1977 from Western Carolina University and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from UNC-G. She joined the U.S. Navy and served in Diego Garcia, London, Germany, and California. After leaving the Navy she taught Information and Computer Technology at Heald Technical College and Institute in San Francisco, California. Nancy returned to North Carolina in 2006 to be closer to family and took a position as Information Technology (IT) Specialist at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU).
Nancy’s passions were family, animals, friends, reading, and music, especially The Beatles. She was very close to her mother and father and provided critical care and companionship in the last years of their lives. Nancy had a special place in her heart for her numerous nephews and nieces. She loved going to the Outer Banks to spend time watching them grow into adulthood. She cherished her family and friends. She taught her cousin to drive, schooled her brother in everything about The Beatles, played Angry Birds with her nephews, and exchanged in spirited discussions about books and politics with friends. She was especially close to her friends and colleagues at WSSU. She loved working in the IT field at the school and sharing her knowledge. She dearly loved her dogs and treasured her time with her family and friends.
In addition to her parents Nancy was preceded in death by a beloved niece, Briana Hope Bugg.
Survivors include, a sister, Tracy Bugg and Glenn of South Hill, Virginia; brothers, Bruce Hope of Kernersville, North Carolina, Tim Hope and Cyndi of Fairfax, Virginia, Jeff Hope and Allison of Winterville, North Carolina, and Chris Hope and Susan of Stafford, Virginia; nieces, Katie Robins, Molly Hope, Colleen Hope, and Meghann Bugg; nephews, Sean Bugg, Riley Hope, Andrew Hope, Bryce Hope, and Scott Hope, and many extended family and friends.
The Family will visit with friends 5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. Friday November 30 at Pierce-Jefferson Funeral Services Chapel.
In Lieu Of Flowers, please donate money to cancer research at the American Cancer Society at https://donate3.cancer.org/
Family and friends may sign and view the guestbook at www.pierce-jeffersonfuneralservice.com
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Irma Wilson (Comer)
11/9/2018: This memory was shared by one of Nancy's Navy friends:
It's life's toughest challenge, saying goodbye to someone you love. Nancy was the first friend I made in 1987 when the Navy sent me from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay Area. She was an old-school sailor through and through: ornery as hell, tattoos, smoked like a chimney, could make babies cry from several feet away, drank like Oliver Reed, never suffered fools lightly, cursed like a parrot in a brothel, and dragged me out of as much trouble as I dragged her into. The first impression Nancy always made on people was that she was tough as nails, but (she'd never admit) she was a true softie. We did a lot from 1987 through a good part of the '90s -- carousing through the streets and bars of San Francisco, getting together every Thursday night in the spring of 1990 to watch our beloved series TWIN PEAKS, raising holy hell twice a year up at California's Russian River, making sure we were the first two people in the movie theater line opening night of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, endlessly replaying in 1989 Madonna's LIKE A PRAYER and Janet Jackson's RHYTHM NATION albums. We shared a love of music and movies: Nancy schooled me on The Beatles, I made her watch and rewatch the early films of Brian De Palma. We debated politics and ALIEN 3. We played and partied all over the Bay Area -- SF, Oakland, Concord, Walnut Creek, Vallejo, Sacramento -- and in Honolulu and Philadelphia, too. And we both loved to read and read and read. We scared the shit out of each other after reading the true crime book ZODIAC, even visiting some of the actual crime scenes ("Look, Nancy, is that someone in the woods over there?"). Nancy would read a book and pass it to me while I'd pass her the book I'd just read. I still thank Nancy for introducing me to the novel SIX OF ONE by Rita Mae Brown, and Nancy became a devout fan of writer Clive Barker when I loaned her my copy of BOOKS OF BLOOD. We met Barker together in the early '90s at a book signing, when Nancy surreptitiously handed him a card with my phone number on it. I got her back later when we met Sandra Bernhard at another book signing. This would probably be as good a time as any to apologize to Nancy for all the practical jokes I played on her through the years -- the stink bombs and prank phone calls and the face markings while passed out, the bucket of water from the cabin roof at the Russian River, and, best -- or worst -- of all, the neverending exploding cigarettes ("POP!") ... but no, that apology is not going to happen. I know that despite all the resulting chases and threats and revenge attempts, Nancy actually enjoyed telling and re-telling the stories later with more than a touch of pride: "I let that little shit live ..." Nancy and I hadn't seen each other in many years before she passed away yesterday. I left the Bay Area for San Diego at the end of the '90s, Nancy eventually returned home to North Carolina. But we never lost touch, and continued to debate politics and movies and music over the years. Several years ago Nancy was diagnosed with cancer ... it was a very tough battle and, true to form, Nancy fought it Nancy-style: ornery as hell, smoking like a stack, swearing like the devil on Sunday. She put up a goddamn good fight, too, right up to the end. Nance, you took a big piece of my heart with you -- it's no exaggeration at all to say you and I shared some of the very best, fun, memorable years of my life together. I'm pretty certain they were for you too. I'll miss you, old(er) friend ... but I will think of you often and with the truest smile.