b. May 9, 1934

by Archives Committee, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

A cradle Episcopalian hailing from St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson, Mississippi, Nancy has been a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church since she and her first husband Robert L. Neill moved to Winston-Salem. Through the years her activities at St. Paul’s have included: teaching Sunday School; Co-chairing the Bazaar; serving as Chairman of the Altar Flower Committee and serving on it for almost fifty years; member of Building and Grounds; and the Ecclesiastical Arts Committee.

In 2000 Nancy joined Nancy Sherk, a friend and fellow gardener in maintaining the annual beds at the church entrance. In 2002 she became a member of the newly commissioned Landscape Committee. Its immediate task was to oversee the development of a long-range plan for the grounds of St. Paul’s. At that time it was written about her, “Nancy has been a member of the flower committee of the Altar Guild for many years. She herself has a beautiful garden which has been visited by garden clubs as far away as Charlotte and Atlanta.” She has served on the Board and Board of Visitors of Kanuga Conference Center. She endowed and landscaped the Neill Entrance Park at Kanuga in 1987 in memory of her first husband, Bob Neill.

Nancy worked with Janice Lewis, a member of St. Paul’s and a Landscape Architect, on the Garden Chapel. David Bare of the Winston-Salem Journal wrote an article on the Garden Chapel and quoted Nancy as saying, “We would like the gardens surrounding the church to be as beautiful as the inside. After 9/11 people flocked to the gardens at St. John the Devine in New York.” “These gardens are sources of refuge and contemplation: as they extend the sacred beyond the church walls into the world,” wrote David Bare.

In 2011 Nancy was awarded the St. Paul’s Silver Cross for Service.

In her community she served in many capacities as a member of the Junior League of Winston-Salem and the Flower Lore Garden Club. In 2014 Nancy was presented the Wava Howard Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Garden Club Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.

Nancy was married to Bob Neill from 1957 until his death in 1986. They lived on Club Park Road and had two children: Betsy Neill Blue and Thomas David Neill. In 1992 Nancy married James Y. Spencer and has a stepdaughter Bartlett Spencer Bassett. Together they have twelve grandchildren. Nancy continues to call St. Paul’s “her second home.”