Obituary of Nancy Carter-Menendez

Nancy Carter Menendez, 78, of Glastonbury, CT passed away Saturday, November 30, 2019 after a brief but hard-fought attempt to defeat pancreatic cancer.

Born March 16, 1941 in New York City, she spent most of her adult life in Connecticut, and whenever possible-her summers on Cape Cod, in her favorite place, Wellfleet

Nancy approached her diagnosis the same way she lived her life, on her own terms. Intelligent, thoughtful, and pragmatic, with her background in medical research (she had only a few years ago retired from a career as a Librarian at the UCONN Health Center), she knew full well what lay ahead, but until the end she stayed optimistic, looking forward to being able to return to her newest project: tapestry making. Nancy was always a gifted artisan, starting in high school at the Walden School in NYC where she created beautiful jewelry. Her passion (and it truly was a passion) for weaving began when she was a young mother living in Michigan, where the wife of one of her husband’s professors first introduced her to weaving, and she discovered she had a natural affinity for it. Nancy continued her studies at Wesleyan Potters in Middletown and later as a member of the Hartford Artisan Weaver’s Guild. Her natural sense of color and design, her eagerness to learn and improve led to the creation of woven pieces of great beauty. You were lucky if you were able to purchase, or even better—were gifted-- one of her pieces

Soft-spoken, quiet, not flashy (except for the streak of purple in her graying hair), Nancy marched to her own drummer--always. Fiercely independent and stubborn, she made decisions—some would call crazy, like abandoning her studies in Sociology when she was only 2 courses away from a degree in order to pursue a degree in Library Sciences at Southern CT University as a graduate student at night while working days. She never regretted that decision and called her graduation in 1988, one of her proudest achievements.

Nancy was a soft touch for the downtrodden, the old, the needy, the unwanted.  Her kindness extended to the many dogs and cats that she fostered, like her beloved Flynn, a border collie she acquired as a blind puppy and who was her constant companion for 15 years. When it was suggested that maybe she’s a sucker, her response was to laugh and say, “I had a chance—I want to give everyone a chance.”

Nancy leaves behind her only son, Jonathan Rich and his wife Sandy, her sister and brother-in law, Elena and Nick Delbanco, grandchildren Richard Leoni, Steven Rich, Christopher Rich, Caitlin Guyette and several great grandchildren and nieces.  She was predeceased by parents Harold Carter and Aurora Menendez Greenhouse, and her stepfather Bernard Greenhouse.

Slow to anger, generous with her time and talents, loyal and kind, she will be remembered with great affection by those whose lives she touched.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Cancer Research Institute, 29 Broadway Floor 4, New York, New York 10006-3111.