Nancy Klinke Craig, part-time resident of New Harbor, died April 18 at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y. The cause of death was complications from radiation treatment she received as a cancer patient in the 1980s.
Mrs. Craig was born July 5, 1938, in Madison, Wis. to Maurice Klinke and Gertrude (Strohbusch) Klinke.
Mrs. Craig and her husband of 51 years, Douglas Craig, shared their time between their residence in Westchester County, N.Y., and their year-round home they have owned in New Harbor since 1999. New Harbor and the Pemaquid region was a destination of Mrs. Craig and her family for more than 40 years.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a bachelor’s degree in Education, Mrs. Craig moved east to Cambridge, Mass., where she studied at Harvard/Radcliffe, then taught high-school level English in Newtown, Mass. (as a tenured teacher) and also in Great Neck, N.Y.
Mrs. Craig was an active member of the communities in which she lived, including her role on several committees of the Long Cove Point Association social and tennis club in Chamberlain. She was also involved with the Lincoln County Community Theater, where she was a board member at the time of her death. The organizations she was involved with while residing in Westchester include the Bronxville League for Service, The Westchester League of Women Voters (where she served as chairman) and the New Choral Society. She also served as a volunteer at the Scarsdale Adult School, where she was a member of the Advisory Board at the time of her death.
After her children completed high school, Mrs. Craig initiated a new career in the area of fundraising and development. She worked as a special projects assistant for former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of N.Y., Whitney North Seymour Jr., and then for The Lighthouse: New York Association for the Blind. Later in her development career, she served as vice president of Planned Parenthood of New York City, and finally vice president of Lenox Hill Hospital, where she worked for 15 years before her retirement.
Throughout her life, Mrs. Craig was a proficient writer, both in her professional and personal pursuits. Upon her retirement, she authored three books of poetry, and was in the process of penning a novel at the time of her death. Much of her poetry was inspired by her passion for Midcoast Maine, most notably her compilation titled “Down East They Say” (New Highland Publications). The Maine Coast Book Shop (Sherman’s) in Damariscotta has been a local source of distribution for her writings.
Among her other interests, Mrs. Craig had a lifelong passion for song, which included voice lessons as a young girl in Madison, singing in her church choir, and participating in local musicals. She parleyed these interests into an unwavering devotion to The Metropolitan Opera, where she and her husband were committed patrons for nearly two decades.
Mrs. Craig is survived by her husband, Douglas; sons, Thomas Craig and wife Shannon, and Timothy Craig and wife Christine; grandchildren, Julien Craig, Sophia Craig, Nicolas Craig, Isla Craig, and Olive Lassen; sisters, Lois Offerdahl and husband Tom, and Pat Norfolk and husband Dick; brother, Jim Klinke and wife Marsha; 12 nieces and nephews; 30 grandnieces and grandnephews; and numerous others.
Family and friends are invited to remember her from 4-7 p.m., Sun., April 23 at Edwin L. Bennett Funeral Homes, 824 Scarsdale Rd., Scarsdale, NY, (914) 725-1137.
For expressions of condolences, the family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Lincoln County Community Theater and Orchestra, 2 Theater St., P.O. Box 237, Damariscotta, ME 04543; www.lcct.org.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Mon., April 24 at Greenville Community Church, 270 Ardsley Rd., Scarsdale, N.Y., (914) 723-1266.
