NANCY VAN RAVENSWAAY

Our long time active member and friend, Nancy passed away on October 14^th. Although her health was not good for the last several years she soldiered on with great determination. Often wearing sweaters and scarves on warm days her internal energy burned bright. She was a great champion for education and early child care development. She encouraged many meetings with the Marin Office of Education which turned into sponsorships of enlightening speakers. Also a close observer of the College of Marin Nancy kept up a dialogue with concerned members of the education community and kept us up to date with all activities related to education in Marin.

Nancy grew up in Missouri, and graduated with M.S. in Education from the University of Missouri.  She began teaching at Del Mar School in Reed District in 1963, the year it was opened. After 22 years at Del Mar teaching social studies and English, Nancy retired and founded Global Education Marin at Dominican College, a resource center for teachers in international studies. During that time, as participant in a Stanford program for teachers, she travelled on study tours to Indonesia and Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong, and Japan. 

Nancy also was a fellow in the Bay Area Writing Project. Global Education Marin eventually became the North Bay International Studies Center, with Sonoma State and Dominican, of which Nancy was Co-Director under a state-wide program. Nancy was a long time member of the LWVMC Board of Directors, and chair of its Education Committee. 

We will greatly miss her gentle manner and wise insights.