Nancy Starr

Nancy (Yowell) Starr passed away on Friday, July 30, 2021 at the age of 89.  She had been a resident of Springhill Senior Living Community since 2015.

Nancy was born on November 30, 1931 to the late Lillie (Coates) and Joseph L. Yowell in Rappahannock County, Virginia.  She grew up on a farm and graduated from Sperryville High School and The College of William and Mary in Virginia where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa honorary society.

After graduation, Nancy worked for the General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York, where she met her husband, Gordon, to whom she was married for 61 years until his death in 2017.  After they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Nancy worked at the Lincoln Life Insurance Company for several years prior to the birth of their children when she became a full-time homemaker.  Later, she was a substitute teacher in the Erie area highs schools.

Nancy served on the volunteer Board of Health Systems Agency of Northwest PA. during the early 1970s and later devoted many years as a volunteer in school-age drug use awareness and prevention, beginning with the all-volunteer Erie County Chemical People community task force in the early 1980s and later with state and national organizations.

Nancy was proceeded in death by her husband, Gordan and her daughter Kathy who passed away in March 2019.  She is survived by her son Joel and his wife Kelly of Pittsburgh PA, sister Frankie Yowell McMillen of Lynchburg, VA, son-in-law Daniel Nellius of Annapolis MD and seven grandchildren:  Michael, Matthew and Caroline Nellius of Annapolis, MD; Joseph, Katherine, Megan and Lauren Starr of Pittsburgh, PA.

Friends are invited to a memorial service at Burton Funeral Home and Crematory Inc. 602 West 10^th Street Erie, PA 16502, Saturday August 21 at 10:30 AM.  Inurnment will be private at Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery.

In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made to METAVIVOR RESEARCH AND SUPPORT, INC 1783 Forest Drive #184 Annapolis, MD 21401 (metavivor.org) or to the Springhill Benevolent Fund, 2323 Edinboro Road, Erie PA 16509