Obituary for Mary Lou Nash
NASH, Mary Lou passed away on December 7, 2020, surrounded by family and friends, after a brief battle with cancer. Mary Lou was born in Chicago, IL, on February 11, 1936, the second daughter of Paul Belencak and Ann Vaclavek Belencak (both deceased) in the middle of the Great Depression. Both sets of grandparents immigrated from Slovakia in 1906 and settled on the South Side of Chicago. Mary Lou attended the Sawyer Avenue School, and the Luther Institute for High School (Mary Lou was a lifelong Christian), before traveling south to attend the University of Florida, in 1953, where she met her very southern future husband, Jack Nash. They wed in April 1956, a short time after Jack's graduation from UF - though Mary Lou did receive her Associates Degree from UF, as well. Mary Lou (Jack and family) came to the Brandon area in 1969 and she taught 1st and 2nd grade at Walter S. Yates Elementary for 12 years, until starting her own Retail Merchandising business with a family friend. Mary Lou (and family) was a founding family of Immanuel Lutheran Church (Brandon, FL), and part of the effort to start the School at Immanuel, where she sat on the initial School Board for the school. Mary Lou's legacy also includes partnering up with Julia Moseley in the mid-1980's to help save Lakewood Drive (in Brandon) from being 4-laned and ruining the beautiful tree canopy that lies between Limona and Windhorst roads. She was a lifelong lover of sports, playing golf and tennis for all her life, and a huge sports fan, faithfully following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Tampa Bay Lightning, whose games she attended regularly with her oldest son, Mark. Mary Lou spent half of her later years at her mountain home in Murphy, NC, where she honed her creative skills learning to basketweave and make pottery, which was a particular love of hers. Mary Lou traveled the globe during the later decades of her life, constantly learning about the world and seeing all its beauty, both before Jack passed in 2003, and right up to the year of her passing. Mary Lou even snow skied every February with her Midwest friends, in Colorado, staying active and vibrant, as was the only way she knew.
Mary Lou is survived by sons, Mark Nash (Lithia) and Chris Nash (Belleair Beach), grandson Alexander Nash (Denver, CO), brother-in-law, John Duda (Cocoa Beach), sister-in-law, Peggy Nash (Orlando), and 8 nieces and nephews, and extended family across Florida and the US.
Celebration of Life Services are being held on Saturday, January 23, 2021, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Brandon, FL, at 2:00p - mask wearing is required to attend. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Feeding Tampa Bay (feedingtampabay.org) as doing for others was a principal tenant of Mary Lou's, and in these challenging times for families, providing food for those needing food would honor her memory.
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Mary Lou is survived by sons, Mark Nash (Lithia) and Chris Nash (Belleair Beach), grandson Alexander Nash (Denver, CO), brother-in-law, John Duda (Cocoa Beach), sister-in-law, Peggy Nash (Orlando), and 8 nieces and nephews, and extended family across Florida and the US.
Celebration of Life Services are being held on Saturday, January 23, 2021, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Brandon, FL, at 2:00p - mask wearing is required to attend. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Feeding Tampa Bay (feedingtampabay.org) as doing for others was a principal tenant of Mary Lou's, and in these challenging times for families, providing food for those needing food would honor her memory.
Previous Events
Celebration of Life Service
Saturday
23
Jan
2:00 PM
Immanuel Lutheran Church and School
2913 John Moore Road
Brandon, FL 33511
Memorial Contribution
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