Nancy E. Wickes, long-time resident of Aspen and Snowmass Village, died peacefully on January 4, 2019 at age 94. She was at the home of her daughter, Betsy Farver, in Rancho Mirage, California, where she had spent the last month.
In addition to her daughter, Nancy is survived by three sons: Tom (Jennifer Morse), of Durango, Colorado; Paul (Gail Thain Parker), of Richmond Hill, Georgia and Nairn, Scotland; and Steve (Barbara Bakios-Wickes) of Aspen. She is also survived by 9 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Tom, Betsy and Steve made their homes in Aspen at various times, and Steve remains an Aspen resident.
After graduating from high school in Hingham, Massachusetts, Nancy went to the University of Arizona, where she met Richard Wickes, who she married in 1944 and to whom she remained married until his death in 1989. Nancy and Richard (Dick) moved to Aspen in 1968.
Nancy was never happier than when she was outdoors and physically active. A competitive swimmer in her high school and college years, she never forgot swimming with Johnny Weissmuller, at the height of his fame as Tarzan. When her children were young, summers were spent at the New Jersey shore, and long days watching the kids in the surf would begin and end with long swims parallel to the beach. Winters were for ski trips, and she was fiercely undeterred despite returning from her first ever attempt at skiing, in Mt Tremblant, Quebec, in a leg cast. She skied regularly in Snowmass until she was 85.
After the death of her husband Nancy took up fly-fishing in a serious way. At first in the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan, and then on to farther and farther-flung parts of the globe. She loved everything about fishing; Cuba, Iceland, Siberia and Mongolia were among the places she wet a fly.
Nancy Wickes will be missed by friends and especially by the large family she leaves behind as her legacy. A celebration of her life will be held this spring in Snowmass Village. She will be interred next to her husband, who she never stopped loving. Friends are asked to remember her, should they wish, with gifts in her memory to the Harmony Foundation in Estes Park, CO. Please specify the “N.E.W. Fund for Native American Scholarships.” (www.coloradogives.org/harmonyfoundation)