Obituary of Nancy Bearden

Nancy Jane Bearden passed away, surrounded by family, on November 28, 2015. Nancy is survived by her husband of over 50 years, Bill Bearden. Nancy is also survived by her son, Patrick (Lisa) Bearden, and daughter, Jeannie (Michael) Nguyen. Nancy had three treasured grandchildren, Danielle (Tim) Rhine, Megan Bearden and Kyle Bearden. Nancy is preceded in death by her father, Alfred Paul Legros (1988) and her mother, Mercie Larue Legros (2013). Nancy is survived by her five siblings: Fred Legros, Barbara (David) Parker, Mary Anne (Steve) Enfield, Betty Jo (Jerry) Kelley, and Shirley (Joey) Felix. Nancy had many loving nieces and nephews including J.J. Felix, Vincent Felix, Kim (Hank) Hulbert, Jessie (Michelle) Gleckler, Autumn (Scott) Ocheltree, April Enfield (Jeff Parks), Stacie (Jeff) Mockbee, Wendie (Ben) Canfield, Rachael (Scott) Hallett, Melanie (Chad) Schwarz, Ryan (Stephanie) Parker, Daniel (Bri) Parker, Jeromy (Genevieve) Kelley, Brandon (Sarah) Kelley, Amy (Jason) Gomez, Sarah (Steven) St. John, Beth Kelley, Isaiah Kelley, Kayli Kelley, Cassie Kelley, Julie (Richard) Preciado and Christine (Paul) Howard. Nancy also had many treasured great grand nieces and nephews as well as loving aunts, uncles and cousins. When Nancy was small, her family moved around quite a bit as she was growing up. Nancy was born in Pennsylvania, but family travels took her to New York, Arizona, and finally to California. They ultimately ended up in Milpitas where Nancy met the love of her life, Bill. Nancy and Bill married in 1965 and started a family. Nancy and Bill were blessed to celebrate their 50th golden anniversary this past April. Nancy’s career path was diverse. Nancy was one of the first female postal carriers in San Jose, California during the 1960’s. Nancy also had an entrepreneurial spirit as she and her husband owned a Douglas Oil gas station for a number of years and, in later years, designed custom silver and turquoise jewelry for sale in their jewelry business. After relocating to Tucson, Nancy found passion in teaching with a focus on mainstreaming developmentally challenged students. Nancy had a very creative spirit. Past hobbies included ceramics - molding and painting many beautiful pieces that we still treasure. Nancy used to also love photography, hiking and camping. Current hobbies included panning for gold – Nancy and Bill were members of local gold prospecting clubs and loved to get out into nature and try their luck at panning. Nancy and Bill also liked to enjoy an evening of dinner and fun at one of the local casinos. Nancy was also an avid book reader. Her copy of Gone with the Wind had been read so many times the binding needed to be rebound. Nancy was dearly loved and will be missed beyond measure. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, December 5th, 2015 at 1:30 PM at Angel Valley Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.