Nancy Lenzer Earl

Nancy Lenzer Earl, beloved mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on March 27, 2024, surrounded by her family.

Born in Hamilton County, Ohio on February 11, 1952, she was adopted by loving parents, Harry Wiliam Lenzer and Jean Hewitt Lenzer. During the early years of her life the importance of family connections was shaped by her close relationship with her grandparents and the historic significance of her family's impact on the Cincinnati area. 

During her formative years, Christmas was the highlight as the family worked together to transform their home by decorating and baking. This became a standard by which she lived and she shared that love with others. One of her favorite parts of the season was the spirit of giving and providing toys to those in need. This included chairing the community Giving Tree and secretly adopting families.

In elementary school, she would work hard to get good grades in order to earn free tickets to the Cincinnati Reds games which instilled in her a love of learning–not baseball. Always pushing herself, Nancy worked to get into the elite Walnut Hills High School in order to go to the university of her choice. While at Brigham Young University she studied genealogy, history, and theater. 

After finishing college, she worked for the History Department for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. During which time she met and married William Allen Earl. They begot five children who were the highlight and focus of her life. She supported all their extra curricular activities as well as the schools they attended through her volunteer work both at the local and state level. 

In 2000, she went back to school to get her Master Degree in Special Education at Western Oregon University. As a teacher for those who are often overlooked, she worked tirelessly to advocate for their best interests and knew that every child had the potential for learning and doing great things. When she would run into past students, they would always tell her how much they appreciated her support and all she taught them. 

Music was always important to her. In her youth, she was a member of Sing Out and loved performing in and seeing musicals. When driving, she loved singing with her children. She often said it was one of her saddest days when they realized the car had a radio and they didn’t need to sing to have music. Second only to the day they found out that when trick-or-treating they were supposed to receive candy as they had previously been raised to believe in “reverse trick-or-treating” in which they would go door-to-door giving people homemade baked goods and candy. (Side note: They never stopped reverse trick-or-treating as it was her favorite start to the holiday season.)   

Volunteer work was vital to her. She served in various roles at her church, but loved it best when she was able to work with children. Always conscientious, she would give her full heart to whatever task she was doing. This would include work at whatever history museum was nearest her home. In the last year of her life she found the Textile Heritage Museum where she was able to blend her love of history and quilting. Her pride was cataloging their extensive quilt collection. 

At any given point, Nancy had a list of projects she was working on to give as gifts to her family and friends. This ranged from Teddy Bears at the birth of each grandchild, pajamas at Christmas, seasonal aprons, and countless quits. There was always a list of what project was next–often updated multiple times a week–especially around Christmas.

Starting as a child, she valued reading. She worked to create the same love with those around her–instilling the importance of literacy to her children and grandchildren. During Covid, she was able to strengthen her relationship with her grandchildren by listening to them read books through FaceTime. This was an activity they all looked forward to and a cherished memory of one on one time, even when in different states. 

Her love of stories was not limited to books. From the stories she read, she learned the skills to be an epic storyteller. When her vision failed, she would create intricate stories to tell her grandchildren. Shifting and changing with the whims of her audience. This became an important part of her relationship with her grandchildren and an essential aspect of their morning routine. 

Family was a central theme to her life. Not unlike Olive Garden, when she was here she was family. Wherever she made her home, she created close relationships through service and connecting with those around her. Everyone in the world was her family. One of the joys in the last years of her life was getting her original birth certificate and finding her biological family. 

She is preceded into eternal rest by her parents, Harry and Jean Lenzer, and her grandsons, Justin and Logan. She is survived by her children Amy, Emily, Carsten, (Erin), Christopher, (Kimberly), and Jacob and her grandchildren Keegan, Paxton, Joseph, and Reagan.