Nancy Graves Pittman

Nancy Pittman died on Friday, May 9, 2015 at Heathcote Hospital in Haymarket, Virginia. She was born in western Albemarle County, Virginia on May 4, 1937, the daughter of Elliott Early Graves and Virginia Anna Sandridge Graves. Her parents and two brothers, Charles Marvin and William Mitchell Graves predeceased her. She is survived by a niece, Debbie Graves Read, and a very dear friend, Jean Droughman of Waynesboro who was raised by her grandmother and was like a sister to Nancy. She was an RN graduate of the University of Virginia, School of Nursing, class of 1959. She worked as a labor and delivery nurse to put her husband through medical school and then settled in as an Air Force wife, a role in which she excelled. She quickly adopted a motto for life, “Bloom where you are planted”. She was an active member of medical wives groups at each station and quickly became a role model for the younger wives who were often having difficulty adjusting to their military life style. In Germany she planned family trips all over Europe to make maximum advantage of cultural experience, while dragging two little daughters and carrying a heavy camera bag while her husband took pictures. In California she was very active in church, in Florida she was president of the garden club. In Ohio she was on the board of the Antique Society and the Wegerzyn Garden Center city wide beautification planning commission for Dayton, Ohio. When she came to Washington in 1985 her focus was on volunteering. During the initial years she as an active duty wife who founded the “Lunch Bunch” of wives who dined around the beltway. Since each of the major air commands in the Air Force had a shield symbolizing aspects of their mission, she decided that Air Force wives needed the same and she designed the Air Force Wives crest which receive early recognition by the Air Force Chief of Staff’s wife and has subsequently been officially adopted by US Air Force wives around the world. It has been the basis for the Ann Hand Air Force wives’ pin. She became an Air Force wife representative to the White House Volunteers, starting in Children’s mail during the Reagan years, but advanced to working for Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Lynn Cheney. During the George W. Bush years she was recognized as an outstanding volunteer with a poster to be placed in the Bush Presidential Library. One of the highlights of those years was being selected to help decorate the White House for Christmas during the Clinton years. She joined the DC Salvation Army Auxiliary in 1986 and was the Angel Tree Chair for a number of years. This included stuffing 6000 stockings each year, arranging for Ambassador’s wives to judge “Dolls and Bears” which were dressed by church groups across the metro area, and most importantly to staff with volunteers the Angel Tree gift distribution for four days during the week before Christmas- usually in an unheated warehouse with questionable plumbing. She also joined the Women’s Committee for the National Symphony Orchestra in 1987, and worked for many years in various fundraising and educational activities of that organization. Besides chairing and hosting many activities, she initiated the award winning “Teddy Bear Tea”, was chairman of the 2000 NSO Decorator Show House, and became a Board member at large for planning special events as small fundraisers for the members of that organization. These included teas and luncheons at various Ambassador’s residents, homes of famous interior designers, and trips to the Museum for Women in the Arts and The World Bank. Nancy married her high school sweetheart, Dr. James Pittman, in 1958, secretly while he was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute and she was a student nurse at the University of Virginia. They had two daughters while she was charge nurse in Labor in Delivery at the University Of Mississippi School Of Medicine. Daughter Susan Kimberly Markham of Brandon, Florida, with granddaughter Megan and grandson Corey. Karen Virginia Andrews, of Miller Place, Long Island has two granddaughters, Katie and Samantha. Nancy has been active in her churches, first as a Baptist and now as a Presbyterian. A Memorial Service will be held to celebrate her life at Greenwich Presbyterian Church, Greenwich (Nokesville), Virginia at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, May 13. The church is located at 15305 Vint Hill Road, Nokesville, VA 20181. A reception will follow in the social hall. In lieu of flowers please make contributions to the Greenwich Presbyterian Church Building Fund, or the DC Salvation Army.

Nancy Graves Pittman

May 4, 1937 - May 9, 2015