Nancy Church Richards died peacefully on Sunday, May 17 at her West Tisbury home. She was 83. She was born on Sept. 7, 1925 in Batavia, N.Y., to Oliver Alden and Olive (Grant) Church. After graduating from Batavia High School, class of 1942, she attended La Salle Junior College in Auburndale, and was a graduate of the University of Rochester, School of Nursing in 1946.

Nancy found an advertisement — R.N. Wanted; small rural hospital on Martha’s Vineyard; write for further details. And so she did. She had her R.N. The war was over. Adventure was in the air. She prepared her car for the trip and happened to look at a map before she left and discovered that Martha’s Vineyard was an Island. One week after arriving she went to a dance at the American Legion Hall and met her future husband Stan Richards. Nancy and Stan shared 61 years of marriage together before his death this past January.

Nancy devoted 35 years to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, spending the last 15 years as head nurse of acute care. She retired in 1981. She was a past member of the Tisbury board of health and was a den mother for Pack 91. A history buff, she read hundreds of history-based novels. She enjoyed growing vegetables and making pickles. She had a huge garden and entered her vegetables in the Agricultural Fair, winning several hundred awards, out-competing the commercial farmers. Nancy loved the water, boating and especially fishing, spending many evenings on the Middle Ground in pursuit of flounder. She also had her “own” clam bed at the Tashmoo Lake house in Vineyard Haven, where she and her husband lived for 25 years. Every year she made the most delicious homemade quahaug chowder.

She is survived by a son, Stanton Grant Richards, and daughter in law Suzanne; a daughter, Ann Tilton Richards; and two grandchildren, Heather and Amy Richards.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 2 p.m. in the Abel’s Hill Cemetery in Chilmark officiated by Don Lyons.

Donations may be made in her memory to the Vineyard Nursing Association, P.O. Box 2568, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.

Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.