Nanalee Maddox Milner Metz, 88, died December 14 of metastatic bone cancer in the presence of family at her Eufaula, AL home. An award-winning artist and former history teacher, Nan was known widely as the “Santa Lady” for the hundreds of Christmas-themed figures she created of polymer clay and fabric. She delighted in being commissioned by patrons to make Old World Santas dressed in repurposed furs, blouses or suits worn by their loved ones.
Nan was as committed to connecting area creatives with each other as she was too, developing her own talents. She was a founding member and former president of the Eufaula Art Scene, a group of artists and art enthusiasts fostering a thriving community in which to connect and learn. In 2010, Nan and a few others initiated an annual Wine and Cheese Silent Auction fundraiser to provide supplies for local art teachers and financial support for art students. A $1,000 scholarship is given annually in her name to a graduating senior majoring in art in college. For two decades, Nan’s seasonal and whimsical figures were featured in area newspapers and in magazines such as Columbus & the Valley, Gadsden Style, Wiregrass Living, and Dothan. She won juried honors from Guntersville’s Mountain Valley Arts Council, Eufaula’s Indian Summer Festival, Columbus’s Artists Guild, and Dothan’s Wiregrass Arts League and Wiregrass Museum.
Nan’s talents emerged early as the third of eight children born in Rainbow City, AL to the late Alice Vivian Lee Maddox and Elisha Roscoe Maddox. She sang in the choir at White Springs Baptist Church and in a duo live on local radio. She excelled in school, leading the girls’ basketball team, starring in plays, and covering campus events for the Gadsden Times. In 1954, she married O.W. Milner of Gadsden and soon moved to the Muscle Shoals area where the couple raised three children: Debbie, Tim, and Laura Alicia.
As a young mother, Nan enjoyed volunteering with other women in Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a service sorority connected to Easter Seals and other projects. She was an avid golfer and state championship bowler. A self-taught seamstress and quilter, she sewed her daughters’ Easter dresses, prom dresses and cheerleader uniforms. She worked for the Alabama State Employment Service Office 1958-64 and the North Alabama Electrical Joint Industry Board 1964-74. In the early 1970s, she enrolled in night classes at Florence State University (now University of North Alabama) and earned three degrees in education: a bachelor’s, master’s, and education specialist. She was inducted into three honors societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Alpha Theta, and Kappa Delta Pi. After four years of teaching history at Deshler High School and Northwest Alabama State Junior College, she received the Belle McWilliams Scholarship to pursue doctoral studies in American history at Memphis State University, where she completed coursework.
In 1982, Nan married Douglas Metz and moved to Farmington, CT, where she taught history part-time at Central Connecticut State University and at Tunxis Community College. Ten years later, Nan and Doug retired south to Eufaula and built a handicapped-accessible home on the lake to accommodate visits from their seven children plus spouses, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, dogs, and other family, friends, artists, and golfers. Their house was featured in Eufaula’s Christmas Tour of Homes in 2009. For three decades Nan and Doug were members of First Presbyterian Church Eufaula, where both were ordained as elders.
In 1994, a car accident left Nan’s son, Tim, quadriplegic. He moved into the Metz’ house where his mother cared for him fulltime. Her sustained, daily attention allowed him to earn the credentials needed to serve as Eufaula’s first City Planner until his death in 2009. Nan’s caregiving continued with her husband after surgeries and dialysis until his death in 2021.
Everywhere she lived, Nan cultivated roses and relationships. Before the COVID pandemic, she led water exercises for friends at the neighborhood pool. After her husband died and her health began to decline, her water buddy OWLS (Older Women Love Swimmin’) Bobbie Bynum and Terri Tarquinee met at Nan’s house three days a week for yoga, meditation, poetry, and politics. From Nan’s cancer diagnosis in July to her death in December, the OWLS appeared six days a week, bringing food and joy when she needed them most.
Nan’s hands were rarely still, her door rarely closed. She was a lifelong Democrat who gave more than she took. She relished baking and giving away her cheese straws, banana bread, cookies, and pound cakes. A voracious reader to the end, she leaves a legacy of passion for education, art, physical fitness, and friendship.
Mrs. Metz was preceded in death by her husband, Doug, her son, her parents, and five of her siblings: E.R., David, Don, and Richard Maddox and Helen Maddox Arthur. She is survived by two sisters: Joy Barnard of Arab, AL, and Vivian (Larry) Smith of Gadsden, AL; two daughters, Debbie (Wayne) Crittenden of Madison, AL, and Laura Alicia (Dixie) Milner of Statesboro, GA; stepdaughters Kim (Harold) Metz Brown of Oviedo, FL, Robin (Dave) Metz Carroll of Max Meadows, VA, and Jill (George) Metz Hettinger of North Aurora, IL, and stepson Mark (Janice) Metz of Mililani, HI. Nan has six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, plus six step-grandchildren and seven step-great-grandchildren.
Nan’s ashes will be buried between her husband and son during a graveside service at the Lee Family Cemetery in Rainbow City. A celebration of her life will be held at 11 am Saturday, January 18 at Chapman Funeral Home in Eufaula with Rev. John Brock officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church Eufaula, 301 North Randolph Ave., Eufaula AL 36027 or online via firstpresbyterianeufaula.org, or to the Nan Metz Scholarship Fund c/o Eufaula Art Scene, PO Box 1817, Eufaula AL 36027 or online via theefaulaartscene.org.
