Nancy Louise Greenwald Younkin

Nancy
Louise Greenwald Younkin passed away at home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Saturday,
January 17, 2015 from vascular dementia.

 

She
was born on July 15, 1927 in Jackson Heights, Long Island, New York, to Louis Edward
Greenwald and Dorothy Hendrick Greenwald. She weighed 3 pounds, 12 ounces at
birth. As she was not expected to live, a birth certificate was not filled out
at the time. She was taken home, put in a shoe box, and placed on the radiator
in the absence of an incubator.

 

Nancy
grew up in Baldwin, Long Island, New York. She spent her childhood summers at
Jones Beach, Long Island, and worked summers there as a teenager. It was her
favorite place in the whole world.

 

When
she was 17 she went to Park College, Parkville, Missouri where she earned a Bachelor’s
Degree in Teaching. Her first teaching job was in Waukegan, Illinois in the
Home Economics Department. While in Waukegan she attended big band dances at
the Aragon and the Trianon ballrooms in the Chicago area, having a wonderful
time.

 

On
June 25, 1950, Nancy married George Younkin of Flushing, New York.  They met when Nancy was teaching in East
Lansing, MI. and he was a student at Michigan State University. They were
introduced because a mutual friend heard their New York accents and figured
they would have to get along!

Following
her marriage, she and George traveled the United States with a pull-behind
trailer while George was in Military Service. George had been recalled for
service because of the Korean War, which had
started on the same day they were married. They were stationed in
Georgia, Nevada, and California. A highlight of that time was living in San
Luis Obispo while George’s brother, Joe, and wife Peggy also lived there.

 

George
and Nancy then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then to Buffalo, New York
where their children were born.

 

In
1955 the family moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Nancy stayed home to raise the
children while they were in pre-school. She then returned to teaching in the Science
Department in the Oakfield, Wisconsin school system.

 

Nancy
later earned her Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling at UW-Oshkosh and
then held the position of Guidance Counselor at the Keil, Wisconsin Middle School
for eight years. She always loved driving through the country to get there.

 

In
the 1980’s she earned her School Psychologist Accreditation at UW-Milwaukee and
then worked for CESA 6 until her retirement.

 

Along
with her husband and family, Nancy camped all over the United States and
Canada. She and her husband traveled to Hawaii many times, and traveled to
Australia, and to New Zealand.

 

Nancy
was actively involved with the Y’s Menette’s (YMCA), and Newcomer’s Club in her
early Fond du Lac years.

 

She
was an avid Bridge Player with her group of almost sixty years.