On the Passing of my friend Nancy Rumsey

 

 

 

To Family, Friends, Fellow Olneans and the thousands of others:  “TAC’ers”, that is, members and volunteers of the Tiger Alumni Center and the directors of Tiger Pride board.    

Let me count some of the ways Nancy Rumsey in a period over 12 years became the most valuable volunteer: A Treasure!

    “In Memory” Administrator for TAC

Nancy Rumsey was a treasure!  I thank her for her devotion to her position as “In Memory” administrator for TAC.  Without her, few of the over 3,000 obituaries would be available to us. When we started working together, Nancy preferred to work privately, avoiding public notice (Insisting that her name not be published).  Neither of us, at first, understood that the published posts not only brought hundreds of  members to the pages of the TAC website – but also to the ears of townspeople!  That, thanks to  the website members sharing the sad news with neighbors and other Olneans around town.    These citizens praised Nancy when seeing her about town; as a result, Nancy began to realize her obituaries were not only building the TAC website but also the growing awareness of the public of the TAC organization.  A few years of such dialogues, becoming daily, and we realized we had something amazing.  I got her to go public; we redesigned Nancy’s messages personalizing them in shape, color, print font and adding her name.  Also, Nancy began registering citizens to the website.   She had become the “Center” of the Tiger Alumni Center.   She was a Treasure.

 

   Assistant to other Volunteers

I thank Nancy Rumsey for becoming a valuable assistant to other volunteers helping them in production development and at time assisting in limited public roles.   She assisted all programs as we developed them, beginning with our hosting events during weeks in the fall when many alumni attended reunion sessions.  As we added programs and she helped, she became increasingly conformable with her administrator position.   Always quiet in her manner but confident, self-deflecting but filled with joy,  she accepted her leadership in the community she was the key developer.   Maybe realizing she was indeed a treasure.

 

   My Valued Problem-Solver

I thank Nancy Rumsey for becoming my valued problem-solver!  Keep  in mind that my main goal was in fund-raising:  I  wanted to raise money for the students, at first scholarships for graduating seniors and, in time, for all needy students.   Slowly, Nancy began doing background jobs.  To me she was doing key jobs that kept the website function.  An early key job was answering the mail.  Again, in time, she could do any necessary task, like uploading class-loads: names and pictures of each member of each class year.  That’s a time-consuming job!  I am condensing 12 years of service!   In the last paragraph I detail her becoming public, the visible “Center” of the organization.  During my last years as the director of TAC, Nancy was doing all jobs.  She had become my problem-solver.  I named her “Co-Director.”

 

  My “Eyes and Ears” in Olney

I thank her for being my “Eyes and Ears” in Olney.  Know that I lived 500 miles away in Georgia.  I needed constant ‘local’  information.  As a loved and important Olney citizen her knowledge really helped us!  One event was serious:  Nancy saved the day.  We learned that a lawyer was trying to get a local business to sue us.   Nancy went to the owners and arranged a meeting and, between the two of us, talked the owners out of that action.  That was a heart-thumping big problem solved.  She was constantly sharing with me “Olney Scene” information, key background knowledge.   The needs of poor children was such an area.  She put me, shall I say, to work: work with the “Do’ers” and ‘money-people’ to get a program in place for their teachers to help needy students.  Yes, her information led to the solution of many problems.  I’ll say this:  Running a successful website is as demanding as running a small business.  Nancy helped me/us do that.   Nancy Rumsey was a treasure!

 

  Creating TAC as an Organization

I thank Nancy for helping me create the reality of the Tiger Alumni Center Organization, not just a website.   So often in the early years, I’d hear people calling us “THAT Website PAGE.”  Even the high school principal did.  To his board, to the bank, he reported us as being “that website money people.”   I wanted TAC to be a live organization where valued thoughts flowed like living memories shared between the past and present Olneans.  Nancy’s love of sharing information, ‘memories,’ of deceased Olneans caused her to understand my/her mission very early in her volunteer years at TAC.  A simple example: as long as I keep my mother in my heart, she is real to me even though she “passed on” years ago.   Pick any subject and think about it, keep it alive in your heart.  Say, Olney football teams, or cheerleaders, or loved teachers:  over and over, remember key events, favorite behavior.   Picture the scene, the event!  See it all in your mind!  Feel it in your heart!  Recall it often.  Nancy came to TAC with that mindset.  Then she helped make it real for many others month after month.   She lives in my heart.

 

  On Being A Friend

Finally, I thank Nancy for becoming a friend.   She came to love me as a friend.  When I learned Monday (she passed away Thursday, November 13, 2025)  that she had left us, I wanted to cry.  I did not want to believe it.  I had assumed I would pass before her.

 

My condolences to all who loved her.  Keep her in your heart!

 

Richard Williams

TAC and Pride Creator

Posted December 11, 2025