Nancy C. (Murch) Carrington

Nancy C. Carrington, 91, passed away at Oakview Terrace/Park Village Pines in Kalamazoo, Oct. 19, 2022.

Nancy grew up in Paw Paw, eldest child of Andrew and Grace Murch. She studied piano for 8 years, played pipe organ for the Episcopal Church on Sundays, and graduated from Paw Paw High School in 1949.

She spent summers at the beloved family cottage in central Ontario, where she swam, fished and camped.  While a teenager there, she caught a 17½ lb. lake trout, a family record for many years.

Nancy went on to major in biology at Kalamazoo College, graduating in 1953.  She moved to Marshall with her husband Carl Carrington, pharmacist, where they raised their three children.  She joined Trinity Episcopal Church, became an active member of AAUW, and worked to raise funds for the American Cancer Society of Calhoun County.  Later she moved to Kalamazoo and worked for the Kalamazoo Nature Center, founded by Dr. Louis Batts, her college professor whom she so admired.  Here, she followed her passion for wildlife and the outdoors, bird watching and botanizing.

Above all, she loved her children.  She supported our interests and well-being tirelessly, with unfailing devotion.  She taught us to swim and to fish, to cook and keep house, and ferried us to art and music lessons and summer camps.  By her enthusiasm, she taught us to enjoy all things outdoors and in Nature, in all weather; by her musical skill to appreciate music and the fine arts, to know the value of practice; and to find the nourishment in the beauty and balance of both.

She taught us by her irrepressible spirit, by her intelligence and curiosity to wonder, to see beyond, to smile warmly and to laugh.   She encouraged us to do our best, to be gracious and kind.   By her example, she showed how to carry on with wit, spirit and love despite the challenges we all face.

The depth of her love and care fill us now as we sustain her great loss.

Nancy is remembered by her sisters Judy M. Darby and husband Chuck (Siasconset, MA), Mary M. McLean (Portage, MI), sister-in-law Dee Dee Murch (Portage, MI); by her children Cathy Mihaly and husband Peter (Middletown, CT), Mark Carrington and wife Cindy Jane (Beaver Island, MI), and Jennifer Carrington (Walker, MI); her grandchildren Patrick Carrington (Charlotte, MI), Christopher Carrington and wife Michelle, (Norwich, CT); and great grandchildren Aaron and Lily Margarite, Jayson and Beatrice.  She is predeceased by her brothers John Murch (Paw Paw, MI) and Tom Murch (Portage, MI).

Nancy was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, Mattawan, surrounded by family Oct. 24, 2022.  She requested that donations in her memory be made to the Kalamazoo Nature Center or the American Cancer Society.