Nancy E. Crosby

Nancy Ellen (Coyne) Crosby, loving mother of five and devoted wife to husband James E. Crosby, passed away Saturday, March 23, 2024, at her home in Somers, Connecticut. Nancy was born in 1936 in Boston, Massachusetts to Owen Joseph and Ellen Foley Coyne and was raised in Jamaica Plain, MA with her siblings Gene, Thomas, and Sheila. In addition to her husband Jim of 63 years, Nancy leaves behind a heartbroken family; her children Mary Elizabeth Crosby, Lisa Bonner (Paul Hebert), Michael Crosby (Laura), Karen Jarmoc, and Christopher Crosby (Heather); and her grandchildren, Carolyn (Tom) Lavin, Kevin (Amanda) Crosby, Catherine Crosby, Owen Jarmoc, Grace Jarmoc, David Crosby, James Bonner, Kinser Bonner, Celia Jarmoc, Walter Crosby, Otis Crosby, Adelaide Crosby and great-grandson, Michael Patrick Crosby. She is survived by her sister Sheila Coyne and was predeceased by her brothers Thomas and Gene. Nancy was a teacher and caretaker at heart. She received her bachelor’s degree from Framingham State University and later obtained her master’s degree in education from Westfield State University. She started her career as a customer service representative at the Boston Edison Company where she was tasked with visiting customers’ homes to show them how to work their new appliance. Nancy later spent much of her career as a home economics teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, at Cathedral High School and Putnam and Springfield Central High School. Nancy’s true love and joy was raising her family with Jim in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Nancy was a member of the gourmet club with her wonderful friends, and she loved playing bridge with her best friends, Patty Keeley, Claire Carroll, and Joan Guardione. Nancy was a member of Springfield Country Club and later, Twin Hills Country Club. She took up golf later in life and she enjoyed playing with Jim and others at her other “home” in Stuart, Florida at Miles Grant Country Club. Most of all, Nancy adored being her children and grandchildren’s cheerleader on the sports sideline, seamstress to the pants that needed a hem, head bike rider to the Storrs Library on summer days, hot chocolate maker for skating afternoons on Turner Pond and loading the kids in her Dodge Dart for beach trips to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Nancy’s family will receive friends from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 1, 2024, at Forastiere Smith Funeral Home, 220 N Main Street, East Longmeadow, MA. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at St. Mary’s Church, 519 Longmeadow Street, Longmeadow, MA. Everyone is asked to please go directly to the church. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Richard Salter Storrs Library, 693 Longmeadow Street, Longmeadow, MA 01106 or at Donate to Storrs Library | Storrs Library (longmeadowlibrary.org) and St. Mary’s Church, 519 Longmeadow Street, Longmeadow, MA 01106. www.forastiere.com