Obituary of Nancy May Newkirk

Nancy May Tuthill Newkirk 12/04/1929 - 01/03/2023 Aged 93 years Nancy May Tuthill Newkirk was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and passed away in Federal Way, Washington. While she mostly grew up in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, her family spent two years in the Yakima, Washington area, which sparked her lifelong love of the mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Nancy majored in music at Macalister College, earned her teaching credentials at the University of Minnesota. After graduating from college, she returned to the mountains of her childhood and landed in Portland, Oregon where she taught elementary school in the Portland School District. She also spent a year teaching in France. She was active in the Mazamas, eventually submitting Mt. Hood. Along the trails she met Donald Newkirk and they married in 1959. They moved to Washougal, Washington where they raised their children and would have 55 years together before his passing in 2014. She is survived by her children and their families, Martha (Dennis) Dolezal, Elizabeth Franz and James (Tracy) Newkirk and five grandchildren; Fiona Dolezal, Shannon Dolezal, Kathryn Franz, Jessica Newkirk and James Newkirk. Nancy spent many years as a substitute teacher in Clark County, teaching grades K-12, and never lost her passion for education. She was active both St. Anne’s Episcopal Church and Church of the Good Shepherd, Crusillo, Camp Fire and 4-H. In her retirement years, she and Donald did a fair amount of traveling and she was active in knitting socks for soldiers. Most of all, she was a wife, mother and friend.