Nancy Gay Parker

Nancy Gay Parker passed from this life due to heart failure on June 4, 2021, at the age of 78.  She was born in Montpelier, ID, on March 1, 1943, the second child of John Henry Parker and Nancy LeNore Johnson Parker.  Her family moved to Verdland Park, Layton, Utah, shortly thereafter.  Two more brothers were added to the family while there.

In 1952 they moved into a home in Kaysville, UT, that was built by Nancy’s father.  She attended Kaysville Elementary School and was 15 when her mother passed away in January of 1958.  She taught her brothers how to wash and iron their own clothes.  She graduated from Davis High School in 1961.  She then attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in German.

She served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States Mission from 1964-1965.  She has always loved the Lord and served Him faithfully throughout her life.  She was truly without guile and possessed a charitable heart.

Nancy went on to earn a master’s degree in Multicultural Studies from the University of Texas in San Antonio.  She became a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL).  She taught on two Indian Reservations in the Southwest in Kayenta and Crown Point.  Then she worked at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX, as an ESL teacher for foreign trainees.  That introduced her to the idea of working in Kuwait, and she ended up there for eleven years!  She decided to come home just one month before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Her next big adventure took her to Poland where she taught ESL at a university in Bialystok for nine years.  When she returned to the U.S. she lived in different areas of the Wasatch Front, teaching at Salt Lake Community College, Horizonte School, and teaching ESL to the staff at several hospitals.  Teaching ESL was a passion for her.  She cared deeply for her students and often created extracurricular activities with them as special learning experiences.  During the pandemic she became a substitute teacher for the Davis School District.

Nancy is well known for her generosity to others. She would search out those in need and find purpose in helping them more.  She sent money and music to friends in Poland; spent numerous nights with people transitioning from hospital stays; gave away several beds; provided transportation for people without cars to doctor appointments and meetings; organized group dinners, sing-a-longs and did all she could to bring happiness to others.

She is survived by her three brothers: John H. (Jane) of Centerville; Steven C. (Mary) of Kaysville; and Dennis L. (Anne) of Centerville.  She loved her nieces and nephews very much and will be greatly missed by them, as well as many friends from all over the area and wherever she taught.   She was greatly loved!

Her funeral will be Saturday, June 12, 2021, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 25 S. 200 E. Kaysville, at 11:00 a.m.  There will be a viewing from 9:30 to 10:30 before the services.

The funeral will also be streamed live.  Go to: https://mywebcast.churchofjesuschrist.org/Events/kaysvilleutahcentralstake    Select “Kaysville 2^nd Ward Funeral” to follow the link.