Nancy Knapp Werner

On Thursday, December 24, 2020, Nancy Knapp Werner, loving wife and mother of four, passed away at the age of 84 in the Woodlands, Texas.

Nancy was born in Evanston, Illinois on July 21, 1936 to Ralph Stewart Knapp and Dorothea Dinneen Knapp. She was a Milwaukee debutant, and a 1954 graduate of the Milwaukee-Downer Seminary. Seeking adventure in the Southwest, she attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority.

She married Robert “Bob” Eugene Werner on December 26, 1955. In the early years of their marriage, they had four children (three boys and one girl), and lived in multiple locations: Sausalito (California), Long Beach (California), Godfrey (Illinois), and Walnut Creek (California). When Bob, an engineer for Shell Oil Company, was transferred to the emerging oil and gas metropolis of Houston, the family relocated to Houston, Texas. For several years in the 1970s, she was the co-owner of a wallpaper hanging business.  

In 1981, Nancy and Bob moved to The Woodlands with their youngest child. Nancy served the local community as a volunteer for Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands, the Montgomery County Animal Shelter, and the Montgomery County Women’s Center. She was also a Past-President of the Woodlands Ladies Golf Association.

Throughout her life, Nancy pursued a variety of hobbies including pottery, gardening, cooking, golf, and tennis. Nancy was also an avid traveler who was always planning her next big adventure with family and special friends. She would always come home with entertaining stories to tell, and a bag filled with gifts for family and friends. She would often “splurge” on a special treasure for her own home which somehow managed to absorb each and every travel keepsake in an eclectic and stylish manner. Her last two plane trips were to Colorado where she had a chance to reconnect with her brother Peter after many years of separation.

Nancy will be remembered for her dedication to family and friends. She loved to entertain, and over the years, she hosted wonderful holiday parties and family events. Friends will remember her delightful meals and warm personality, and family members will never forget her holiday cookies and Christmas Eve bouillabaisse. Nancy never failed to send cards for every birthday and holiday, always with a personal note with scrawled handwriting that everybody struggled to decipher. As a devoted and proud mother and grandmother, she enthusiastically attended more than her fair share of golf tournaments, horse shows, musical recitals, and graduations, and unfalteringly shipped care packages (with her signature granola cereal) to numerous locations.  One time, she even served as a personal mule bringing thousands of dollars, all in mint condition, to Kazakhstan where her daughter was conducting research.

Nancy is survived by her husband Bob; her brother Peter; her four children: Tom, Bruce, Robert and Cynthia Werner; their spouses: Luz Werner, Carole Werner, Peggy Werner, and Brian Harley; her grandchildren: Kristin Brown, Carli Kerr, Laura Sotello, Daniel Werner, Jessica Fleming, Gregory Werner, Benjamin Werner, and Aubrey Werner; and her great-grandchildren: Addie Brown, Atticus Sotello, Riley Fleming, and Harper Werner. She also leaves behind two beloved (and rotund) cats: Mikey and Pookie.

Due to COVID-19, the family will not be holding a funeral or memorial service. An online memorial has been set up at mykeeper.com: https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/NancyWerner/. Family and friends are encouraged to visit the site to learn more about her wonderful life and to share their own personal tributes. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Nancy’s memory be made to Operation Pets Alive (in the Woodlands, Texas) or Montgomery County Women’s Center.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/woodlands/obituary.aspx?n=nancy-knapp-werner&pid=197417725