Obituary

Sept. 23, 1931 — June 15, 2016

“Nancy was a kind, beautiful, funny, thoughtful, and gifted woman.”

“She had amazing curiosity, tenacity, and problem-solving skills.”

“I will miss her kind, gentle nature and lovely smile.”

“We have daily reminders in our home of her generosity and love.”

“I remember her laugh, her love, her openness.”

These are but a few of the recollections expressed in the many condolence cards received by her family, but they provide an accurate if incomplete picture of her. Born in Santa Ana to John L. and Geraldine E. Bascom, Nancy grew up on an orange ranch in nearby Tustin.

As a “farm girl,” she became active in 4-H (specializing in pigs, and chickens) and worked her way up to its highest awards: All star in 1949 and Diamond star in 1950; later (1970), she would receive the 4-H Distinguished Service Award. As a 1949 graduate of Tustin Union High School, she intended to study Home Economics at the University Farm School (now UC Davis), but a special offer took her instead to Pomona College in Claremont. She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1953, often saying it was the closest thing to home-ec Pomona offered.

It was there that she met her husband-to-be, Don Crosby, a fellow chemistry major, after a foul odor from his lab drove them out of the building. They married soon after graduation and moved to South Charleston, WV, where she worked at the Union Carbide Research Center, as did he, and also produced two little West Virginians: Daughter Erica and son Frederick. Her opportunity to live in Davis arrived at last in 1961, when Don was invited to join the UCD faculty, and she would live here for the next 55 years.

In Davis, her background soon led her to become active in the University Farm Circle and in the fledgling Friends of the Davis Arboretum; she remained a member of the Friends for life and an Arboretum volunteer for almost a half-century. She organized the first Arboretum plant sale in 1974 — selling iris corms from a blanket in Central Park — and went on to chair or co-chair highly successful Plant Faires for the next 26 years. She also led a group of weekly plant propagators to supply the plants. She received the Arboretum’s Distinguished Service Award in 1974, 1985, and 2002, and together with long-time colleague Pat Miller, the Davis Brinley award in 2008.

Over a period of years while joining her husband on Summer Research leaves at the University of Hawaii, Nancy volunteered at the (then) new Ho’omaluhia Botanic Garden in Kaneohe on Windward Oahu. There, she developed an interest in tropical plants and native Hawaiian culture, and expanded her life-long love of sewing into designing and producing gorgeous, classic Hawaiian quilts. This led her into graphic art, and she designed, crafted and sold original greeting cards at St. James Christmas sales for many years.

Although she hated the preparation, she loved to travel, and she and Don visited all but a handful of U.S. states as well as 19 foreign countries — often at the invitation of former students and scholars whom she had entertained in her home. Among her favorite places were Japan, Mexico and the Pacific Islands, and her Davis home was filled with art objects from all these places.

As outdoor work became increasingly difficult for her in her late 70s, she became a volunteer at the UCD Center for Plant Diversity (Herbarium) where she could be indoors year-round. There she organized reference materials (and anything else that came to hand) and was curator of the monograph collection until shortly before her death.

Only a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Nancy died peacefully in her home surrounded by her loving family. She leaves behind her husband of 63 years, Don Crosby; daughter Erica Crosby, also of Davis; son Rick Crosby and his wife, Vickie, of Placerville; and grandson Nathan Crosby and his recent bride, Sarah, of Portland, Ore.