Nancy Gay Smith Wilson was born August 5, 1939, to Robert Wafford Smith and Gay Cloar Smith at the Webb Williamson Hospital of Jackson, Tennessee. Nancy’s mother died at the birth of Nancy, and she was reared by her father and her stepmother, Avanelle Foust Smith. She had five siblings: Janice (James) Nowell of Milan, Joe (Carol) Smith of Northport, Alabama, John (Sue) Smith of Afton, Tennessee, and Judy (Jim) Frazier of Jackson. Her father, mother, stepmother, and brother Joe are deceased.
Nancy married Hoyt Wilson from South Fulton, Tennessee, August 16, 1959. Three children were born to them: Marta Gay (Rick) Smith of Jacksonville, Florida, Krista Lynn (Doug) Grace of Jackson, and John Bart (Mitzi) Wilson, Sr. of Lexington. They have seven grandchildren: John Bart (Katie) Wilson Jr., Nichole (John) Herold, Kathryn (Aaron) Lyons, Cord (Jordan) Smith, Victoria (Mike) Carroll, Wesley (Gladys) Grace, Haley (Clayton) Helmuth and thirteen great-grandchildren: Anna, Brayden, Gavin, John Henry, BellaGrace, CallieAnn, Ellis, Georgia, Emmitt, Cohen, Emily, Andrew, Elena who is to be born soon, Mia, and Alexander.
Nancy graduated from William Jewell College in Liberty Missouri in 1962 and later completed a Masters Degree in Education with 45 additional hours. She taught English in Kearney, Missouri; Bardwell, Kentucky; Boone’s Hill, Tennessee; Pulaski, Tennessee; Kenton, Tennessee; and Spanish and English at Lexington High School for 25 years, retiring in 2003 – 41 years total.
Nancy was a Christian. She received Jesus at an early age and never turned back. At her death she was a member of the First Baptist Church of Lexington. She has taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir, worked in the church library, and Vacation Bible Schools. She was also actively involved in the Henderson County F.C.E. Her profession was teaching, but she considered being a wife and mother to be her major accomplishment.
