Nancy Rockwell Obituary

Nancy Jean Rockwell

Dec 23, 1946 - Dec 15, 2023

Orcutt, CA

Nancy Jean Rockwell died Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.

Nancy grew up in the small northern Ohio town of Milan. Her early life was enriched by her many friends, close immediate family, and large extended family. Milan was a place where your Sunday school teacher could be an aunt or an older cousin and when Sunday school was over, a relative would walk with you to the Dairy Bar on the town square for a fountain drink and a donut. Nancy was an accomplished and proud graduate of Milan High School.

Soon after high school, Nancy married her closest high school friend, Ronald Klepper. Ron's schooling and career as a chemical engineer kept the couple on the move and Nancy was able to complete her undergraduate degree in anthropology at Southern Connecticut State University. After a move to Salt Lake City, Utah, Nancy enrolled in a graduate program in anthropology at University of Utah. While in this program, she learned to speak Spanish and Farsi and completed an extended cultural session in Iran and Afghanistan. Nancy and Ron were divorced in the early 1980s. Nancy remained in Salt Lake City and began a career as a technical writer for the 3M Company.

In 2001, Nancy moved to Orcutt, California, to be close to her brother, Kent, and his family and to provide a safe and comfortable home for her father while he could still live somewhat independently. While in California, Nancy worked as a senior technical writer for a private contractor at Vandenburgh Air Force Base and retired from that position in 2015. Nancy enjoyed the coastal California experience, being close to family, reading many books, and having many lively conversations with a friend over a glass of good wine.

Nancy is survived by her immediate family, her brother, Ned Rockwell (Teresa Meachum) of Idaho Falls, Idaho; brother, Kent Charles Rockwell (Janis); niece, Emily Kitts (Steve); nephew, Thomas Charles Rockwell (Andrea); and four grandnieces and grandnephews, all residing in Santa Maria, California.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lester Charles Rockwell and June Elain (Oldfield) Rockwell.

No formal services are planned. The immediate family will get together for a remembrance at a later date.