Obituary of Nancy (McDowell) Fries

Fries, Nancy (McDowell) Farwell, MI Nancy, age 78, died January 13, 2019. She was born in Summit, NJ, where she lived until her family moved to Swarthmore Pennsylvania. During her teen years and on into her young adult life, she spent many summers on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. She attended Wilson College, then Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, and following that she worked for Holiday Magazine from 1962 – 1964. In addition to normal secretarial duties, her job included copy editing and fact-checking articles. She married Peter H Fries on May 16, 1964, and then went to Poland where they taught English for a year. They moved to Madison Wisconsin in 1965, where her husband taught at the University of Wisconsin. She came to Mount Pleasant, MI with her husband in the fall of 1971, moving finally in 1972 to their home south of Farwell, MI where they lived for over 40 years. While in Wisconsin she volunteered at the university helping to organize classes to teach English to wives of foreign students studying at the university. She also took part in International Wives, an organization that helped newcomers from other countries get adjusted to American culture. When she moved to the Mount Pleasant area she joined the League of Women Voters and the Garden Club for several years until she became interested in local politics, helping on several campaigns for county commission and state representatives. She enjoyed birdwatching (often participating in the annual spring and winter Audubon bird counts) and watching fish while snorkeling over coral reefs. She continued her interest in international students by becoming an "American Mother" for many of the ones she met at the university. Her interests included international organizations that her husband belonged to. She often helped organize and run conferences, and was able to anticipate and address organizational problems. She also used her organizational skills to help found and provide draft constitutions for two of those professional associations. She enjoyed traveling with her husband, visiting much of Europe and Australia, and spending several months in China where she and her husband taught English. Indeed she made travel arrangements for many of these trips (many taken before the internet existed and reservations had to be made by phone or mail.) During the last 30 years of her life she was confined more and more closely to her wheelchair, but in spite of her physical problems, she found ways to continue traveling by car and by ship. She took her last extended trip with her husband during the summer of 2018 when she went to familiar parts of the east coast. She particularly enjoyed the week she spent returning to Martha's Vineyard, MA, where she was able to contact old friends and revisit familiar places. Most of all, she enjoyed being with people - old friends, new friends, strangers (potential friends). Many of the people who met her commented on how inclusive she was, and on her good sense of humor, which showed even at the end. She is survived by her husband Peter and her sister Ann McDowell. She was preceded in death by her parents, H. Woodward "Woody" and Ruth (Henderson) McDowell. A Celebration of Life will be held June 16, 2019 at the Maple Creek Golf Club, 8400 Genuine Rd, Shepherd MI 48883. Final times to be announced later. To sign online guestbook, visit www.cremationsocietymidmi.com All sympathy store items must be sent directly to the family home.