The second of three daughters, Nancy Lee Holtrop was born in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, to Lucille and Robert Lee, owners of Lee Hardware. Nancy spoke fondly of her hometown and described it as a wonderful place to grow up. After high school, she attended the University of Michigan School of Nursing, where she earned a degree and, even better, met Hugh Robert Holtrop - Bob - the medical student she would marry in 1959. They remained utterly devoted to each other for 50 years, until Bob's death in 2010, and raised their sons Mark, Paul, and John to be good and decent men.

Early on, Bob's medical career took them around the country - from Michigan to Nebraska, then West Virginia, Massachusetts, and finally in 1981, to California - but as the backdrops changed, what matter most remained constant: time with their boys, close and enduring friendships, gardening, civic engagement, travel and culture, all graced by a succession of beloved dogs (and one exceptional cat).

While Bob was delivering babies and managing women's health as an OB-GYN, Nancy managed their home - but she was never content with that alone. Her early and keen interest in contemporary Scandinavian design, then nearly unknown in the United States, led to retail and management positions at shops in Boston and Sacramento that specialized in the aesthetic. Her exquisite taste and genius for interior design were an inspiration.

Upon retiring from retail, Nancy devoted herself to volunteer work. She donated her time and expertise in health and nutrition to the Women's Center in Stockton - which provided critical services to women facing domestic abuse - and served on its board. After she and Bob moved permanently to Carmel Valley, Nancy dedicated countless hours to the Yellow Brick Road Benefit Shop, where she sorted and priced donated jewelry and transformed loose, broken, and hopelessly tangled bits into new beaded masterpieces - which sold like hotcakes - from 1999 until her final illness.

Nancy loved living in California, and loved the Monterey Peninsula and Carmel Valley. Long walks with the dog on Carmel Beach were routine until back problems limited her to terra firma. Her penchant for thrift shopping and garage and estate sales was legendary, and benefited any number of family and friends on whom she bestowed her carefully curated finds. In her last couple of decades, she became an avid dominoes enthusiast and hosted regular domino klatches with a coterie of cherished friends. There may have been wine; there was definitely much chatting and laughing above the clicking of the tiles.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Bob (2010); her son Jonathan (1960); and her son Mark (2026). She is survived and profoundly missed by her sister Harriett and brother-in-law Terry; her sister Mary; her son Paul and daughter-in-law Lori Yancura; her son John and daughter-in-law Denise; and her grandson Maxwell.