Nancy Lee Smallwood

The Following Tribute was written By Pamela Ann Smallwood Harper, Nancy's Sister.

Born December 18th, 1940, Died July 17th, 1981
Parents - Norton W. and Florence E. Smallwood

Siblings - Pamela A. Smallwood Harper, Norton W.Smallwood Jr., Bradley W. Smallwood
Nancy was the second child in the family
Married and later divorced from Paul Comer
Born and grew up in Seattle(Three Tree Point)
Graduated form Highline Highschool and Washington State University
Worked at the World's Fair in Seattle in 1962.
Became an Art teacher at the highschool level.
Taught school in the Lompoc, California school, district.
Married Paul, who was a grade school principal.
They lived in Lompoc.
Nancy never had any children
She had a heart murmer and later serious heart disease

She was one of the first patients to recieve an artificial heart valve under the care of Dr. Lester Sauvage at Providence hospital in Seattle.

    Nancy was tall and slender.  She had freckles, a beautiful face, and light brown hair.  Even though she had heart problems, she loved to do things outdoors.  She was a good skier and loved to hike.  She had a good sense of humor and would laugh easily.  She was adventurous and didn't mind doing off the wall things.  She loved her family, her nieces and nephews, and her little brother Brad. 
     As a teacher, she would have summers off and would come to Seattle for extended visits.
    After she divorced paul, she lived with John Karbin, who was an Optical Physicist working for the airforce in Vandenburg.  They lived in a lovely home, on several acres, up on a hill above Lompoc.  She loved plants and flowers and her home was decorated with bright colored accents and her own artwork.

John Karbin, Nancy's life partner at the time of her death.

   Nancy was an excellent artist, working in many mediums.  She could paint in oils, weave baskets, and sculpt in clay and fabric.  She had a sense for color that was bright light and happy.
     When Nancy died, she was all packed up and ready to come to Seattle with John for a trip with Pam and Guy on thier sailboat, the Discovery.  John called to say that he had lost Nancy.  I couldn't figure out how she could get lost.  Was this on the way up to Seattle or what.  While he was at work, she just sat down in a chair and died.  She had a Bible open on her lap and had been reading it.  Her heart just gave out.
     We went to Lompoc for the service for her, which was in thier garden.  It was a very sad time.  Nancy had hundreds of friends.  There were people she met from all over, teachers, and others.  Anyone could be Nancy's friend, no matter what they had or what they did.  She really liked people and they loved her.  There were many, many gifts in her name made to the Hope Heart Center.  Since the family didn't live close to her during her working adult life, we had no idea how many friends she had.  It was wonderful to see.

Nancy and Pam on the bow of the Discovery.

The Discovery

  During the time that Nancy was teaching high school, she took a one year sabbatical.  She wanted to, and did, produce a film about Native American arts and crafts in the western United States.  During that year she traveled all over the west from Arizona to Neah Bay and everywhere in between.  She interviewed and filmed the Artisans in thier homes and workshops.  She had an idea that these skills were disappearing with the old people and she wanted to capture thier techniques on film.
     She was, of course, right.  They were disappearing, although fortunately others have realized this and have made some recovery.
     She stayed with Indian families - they welcomed her into thier homes.  The resulting film was excellent.  It had music set to it, and later became the property of the school district and was used for educational purposes.  Nancy did this all by herself.  She drove around to all these locations making all the contacts on her own.  She wasn't one bit afraid to do this, and we weren't afraid for her.  We just knew that she could do this.