Nancy Alleene Ross

Lucky Duck

I’m not sure how many people want to arrive on the hottest day in Nebraska history, July 13, 1934, but I was born into a loving railroad family and lived a long, charmed life. My older brother Bill and I had two terrific parents. My grandparents lived nearby and were part of our home. I felt awfully lucky.

While a junior at Grinnell College, I enjoyed the luckiest night of my life when I attended a party for fellow Grinnell students and met a recent graduate, Bob Ross, who could make me laugh for the entirety of our 41 years together. We married in September after my 1956 graduation from Grinnell. We moved to Atlantic, Iowa, where my son Scott made me who I always dreamed, a mom. Scott and I suffered my rookie mom mistakes and I felt lucky to have a hardy, cheerful and forgiving son.

We moved to Harlan, Iowa, in a house with cornfields immediately adjacent to both our front and back yards. I had arrived in the perfect place to raise a family, enjoy our happy marriage and make friends. Ann came along in 1962, Lynn in 1965. Ann has always been calm, wise and logical. Lynn has never been either calm nor acutely logical but she has always made us laugh which may be the best quality of all.

A newcomer to Harlan, I was ripe for the picking. Opportunities to involve myself in our community engulfed me. I once complained to Bob about how busy I was. His response: “Lucky you.”

I found time in the evenings for good books and quiet satisfactions of family and small town life. Bob died far too young, in 1995. In 2009, I moved to Des Moines to be close to my daughters, their families and the bright lights of big city living.

My children brought me joy lasting to the end of my life but extended that joy by marrying truly wonderful partners, Ann married Rick Long, Scott married Margy, Lynn married Tom Cope. And there were grandchildren Sarah Long Wiegand (Matt), Adam Long (Hannah Royal), Katie Ross Schneider (Marcus), and Davis and Harper Cope. I lived long enough to enjoy great-grandchildren Magnolia “Noli” Wiegand, Archer and Fern Long, and Hal Schneider. Meanwhile, my practically indestructible brother Bill Norris (Joyce) survives me at age 94 and counting. I also leave many sensational, caring nieces and nephews.

I had a good long turn at bat during which I made many lifelong friends at Grinnell and in Harlan. I felt especially lucky to make marvelous friends starting late in life at Edgewater in West Des Moines.

This description of my life does not drip with the glamor of a glossy magazine but it was perfect for me to share all 91 years with loving family and friends. I’m one lucky duck.

My family will have a memorial celebration on December 21, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center of Edgewater Senior Living at 9225 Cascade Avenue, West Des Moines, Iowa 50266.

Send flowers if you must but better to contribute to the West Des Moines Public Library, Grinnell College or any of the Good Samaritan funds at Edgewater Senior Living in West Des Moines. If you wish instead and maybe best of all, do something kind, generous and unexpected for someone you may not even know.

Condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

Print