Nancy Yapel

Nancy Ann Yapel, age 76, passed away June 20, 2022.  She was born in Virginia, MN on July 19, 1945 to Linden and Lorraine (Semon) Burgess and enjoyed her childhood growing up in Tower, MN with her beloved siblings, Judy (Len) Tomsich, Barb (Bill) Durbin, and Gary (Robin) Burgess.  On August 22, 1964, she married Peter Yapel of Soudan, MN and the couple resided in Hoyt Lakes, MN for 25 years, before returning to Tower.  Nancy and Peter have two children, Mark (Nichole) Yapel of Esko, MN and Deanna (Frank) Ziemba of Eden Prairie, MN.  They were also blessed with one grandson, Sam Yapel of St. Paul, MN.

Nancy was an incredible and loving mom to her kids.  Whether she was teaching them life skills with a sense of humor, whipping up one of their favorite desserts, or helping them entertain friends, Nancy filled their lives with joy and mischief.  Summers were spent at their family cabin on Lake Vermilion, where Nancy often delighted friends and family with made-from-scratch culinary delights and ice cream socials. 

For more than 50 years, Nancy worked as an incredibly talented seamstress.  It was not uncommon for her to design and sew a wedding dress and then make dresses for the entire bridal party.  Nancy made hundreds of prom dresses and worked on well over a thousand wedding dresses throughout her career.  She loved to sew so much, she finished working on her final bridesmaid dresses while in the ICU shortly before her passing and to the shock of hospital staff – but it was no shock to those who knew her well.

Nancy had boundless energy, so if she wasn’t sewing for someone, she was cooking or baking for them.  Widely known for her desserts, she was also known for cooking seven course Chinese dinners for family – complete with domed dishes.  She insisted on making everything from scratch and rarely needed to consult a recipe.

Since accepting Christ as her Savior at the tender age of twelve, Nancy’s faith was central to how she lived.  She believed we should live our lives in service to others and she was always looking for ways to help people. She worked as a Sunday school teacher at St. James Presbyterian Church in Tower for more than 10 years and her eyes would light up when she would talk about how much she loved those kids.  Vacation Bible School was an annual highlight for her when she would plan activities and cook the lunches and treats for all the kids and VBS volunteers.  Her love for the kids inspired her daughter, Deanna, to author a series of children’s books (Angel Hearts for Jesus) where “Miss Nancy” was a central character that taught Sunday school.  Nancy’s favorite bible verse was Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

At Nancy’s request, no funeral is planned.  Instead, the immediate family will attend a private burial service in Tower and a Celebration of Life party will be hosted in her honor later this summer - dates to be determined.  Knowing that Nancy will be missed by all who knew her, her family requests that family and friends share condolences and memories on this memorial web page.  Please feel welcomed to share your favorite memories of Nancy, upload photos of her, our family, or perhaps yourself or your child in a dress or costume she made for you!  

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to a charity that benefits kids in need.  We have a link in this memorial for Feed My Starving Children as well.

SOME ADDITIONAL FUN FACTS ABOUT NANCY:

She was as clumsy as she was loving and talented.

She loved Jesus and loved the movie, Jesus of Nazareth - always watched it around Easter.  When she would sew for a wedding, rest assured she prayed for God's blessing over that marriage.

Her favorite color was blue.

She loved ANY kid and nothing gave her more joy than feeding them treats she had made or making them feel special with custom costumes, dresses, shoes, heartfelt gifts, blankets, etc.

Nancy was highly competitive - whether it was doing puzzles, playing board games, trying to guess the Wheel of Fortune puzzle before anyone else in the room - she was "in it to win it".

She was afraid of heights.  No observation decks or roller coaster rides for Nancy!

She had to have more ice than liquid in any beverage - boy, did the woman love slush...and she'd get tipsy after one sip of sake or wine.

Nancy loved people and especially those that worked in the service industry.  She often made friends with people that worked in restaurants, stores, etc. - even across the country.  Wait staff would remember her years later because of her magnetic personality.  She would go out of her way to help people.  For example, she found out that a woman that used to ship her Clinique from Minneapolis had cancer.  Though they'd never met, Nancy started baking and shipping her molasses cookies to help her get her appetite back after chemo.

She was the best wife, mom, sister, aunt, and friend anyone could ask for and we all miss her terribly! No doubt, everyone in heaven is now better fed than they've ever been!