Nora M. Macfarlane Nevin, beloved daughter, sister, mother, wife and stepmother, died peacefully in her sleep on July 27, 2022. She was in Los Angeles, where she had moved during the pandemic to be closer to her family.

She was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1935. She was raised on Long Island until attending Wellesley College, from which she graduated cum laude in 1956. She married Patrick Ophuls shortly thereafter and moved to Miami, where he was stationed in the Coast Guard Search and Rescue Coordination Center.

She wrote for the Miami Herald, predominantly for the society pages, and covered everything from horse races to debutante balls to celebrity galas. This job cemented an early love of non-fiction writing, something she would pursue academically and as a practice for the rest of her life.

After living in Miami, she and Patrick moved to Washington, D.C., where he was inducted into the United States Foreign Service and worked on the Afghanistan desk in the State Department. Their next posting was to Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. While in West Africa, they had a child who died tragically. They were then sent to Tokyo, where their son Nicholas was born in 1963. Later they would move to New Haven, Conn., where their son Hardy was born in 1968.

Nora and Patrick divorced not long after. She worked for many years to start the first hospice in the United States, which was located in the New Haven area.

In 1979 she married John A. (Tony) Nevin on Thanksgiving Day and inherited five stepchildren from his previous marriage: Martha, Sarah, Scott, Barbara and Mark. They moved to Durham, N.H. and she attained a master’s degree in non-fiction writing from the University of New Hampshire. She later taught non-fiction writing at the university for many years and it was a job that brought her great joy and satisfaction.

She and Tony retired to their beloved Martha’s Vineyard in the 1990s. They were involved in many aspects of Island life including being early advocates for low-income housing, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, local and regional political causes, and many different Island theater organizations.

She is survived by both of her sons, all five of her stepchildren, three grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren. She is greatly missed.