Nancy S. Giles

Nancy S. Giles, aged 78, passed away peacefully in her Sioux City home, surrounded bedside by loved ones on Wednesday, June 17th, 2015, after a courageous six-year battle with metastatic uterine cancer. Her family is extremely grateful to the end-of-life care provided by Hospice of Siouxland, generally, and for the personal assistance rendered by Briar Cliff senior nursing student Kristina Mitchell, specifically. Services will be conducted jointly by Rabbi Guy Greene of Congregation Beth Shalom, and Reverend Ryan Dowell-Baum of First Congregational United Church of Christ, on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015, at 10:00a.m., at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel. Interment will follow at Mount Sinai Cemetery. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service on Tuesday. Gifts in Nancy's memory can be made to the June Nylen Cancer Center, the Sioux City Museum and Historical Association, and Karma Rescue (1158 26th St., #155, Santa Monica, California 90403). Nancy Gifford Seff was born February 13th, 1937, to Albert M. and Marguerite (Murphy) Seff, in Sioux City, Iowa, named in honor of her maternal great-grandmother, Sarah Gifford. She was educated locally at Bryant Elementary School and North Junior High School, then matriculated to Ferry Hall/Lake Forest Academy (her mother's alma mater) in suburban Chicago for her sophomore and junior years, before returning to Sioux City to finish her secondary education at Central High School, from which she graduated mid-year 1955. Nancy then attended Mills College, Oakland, California, for two years, during which time she obtained her elementary education substitute teaching credential, and her school librarian certification. At the conclusion of her sophomore year at Mills, she married William Jefferson Giles, III, whom she had met two years prior on a double-date between two Mills co-eds and two University of California-Berkeley fraternity brothers. Nancy and Jeff were wedded May 9th, 1957, and were together until Jeff's death from cancer on May 27th, 2003. (A true lifelong learner, Nancy eventually resumed her education, and at the age of 41 earned a B.A. at Briar Cliff College, double-majoring in English and theatre.) During their 46-year marriage, they enjoyed many adventures together, chief among them a shared love of theatre and travelling; indeed, they visited all 50 U.S. states, and 23 countries on three continents, and owned a time-share in London, England, which they used as a base of operations for their annual West End theatre junkets. But their favorite place on earth was their cottage on Lewis and Clark Lake, near Yankton, South Dakota. Surely, some of the happiest days of life's fleeting moments were spent there, together with family and friends. The union of Nancy and Jeff bore two sons: William Jefferson Giles, IV, Rockwell City, Iowa, and Gregory Gifford Giles, Sioux City, Iowa. Nancy was extremely proud that both her sons are Eagle Scouts; additionally, both boys followed their father's career track as attorneys, though neither are now practicing. Throughout her life, Nancy was an extremely involved volunteer, and served on numerous local boards of directors, including those for: the Mary Elizabeth Day Care Nursery, the Volunteer Bureau, the Sioux City Symphony Auxiliary, the Sioux City Community Theatre, the Sioux City Art Center Auxiliary, the St. Luke's Hospital Auxiliary, the Sioux City Concert Course, and the Friends of the Sioux City Public Library. Additionally, she served on the board of directors of the Castle on the Hill Association, for which she started its newsletter; re: Central, she also served on every Central High School reunion committee, dating from her 10th to the present. She will be sorely missed at next month's 60th reunion of the CHS class of 1955. Nancy also served on the statewide board of Friends of Iowa Public Broadcasting. Furthermore, she was on the board of directors for the Sioux City Museum and Historical Association; for her work at the museum, Nancy received the Director's Award for "Volunteer of the Year," specifically for starting, writing and editing the SCMHA's newsletter. Other organizations with which she was involved include PEO (Chapter IL), Questers, Red Hat Society, Sioux City Women's Club, the Sioux City chapter of the NAACP, and, as she was a voracious reader, numerous local book clubs. Among her many volunteer efforts, Nancy's involvement with the Sioux City Junior League gave her significant pride, particularly since she founded, in 1971, the Discovery Shop, to this day a significant source of revenue for the SCJL. After the opening of the Discovery Shop, Nancy went on to serve as Vice President in 1971-72, then President, in 1972-73, of the SCJL. For many years, she also edited the Junior League's newsletter, "Lingo," and for her on-going post-retirement involvement with the organization, she was recently selected recipient of the Dorothy Eaton Palmer award for "Sustainer of the Year." Not merely a volunteer, Nancy also possessed an entrepreneurial spirit, and for 10 years she owned and operated the Unicorn Boutique in Sioux City, and the Unicorn, Too holiday gift shoppe in Crofton, Nebraska. Additionally, she put her editorial skills to good use for her family's restaurants (the Green Gables, the Normandy, and the Silver Steer), writing their newspaper advertising copy for many years. Nancy also had an eye for acquiring interesting objets d'art, and in 2010 she was featured on PBS' "Antiques Roadshow," which in a highlighted segment explored the features of the 17th-century Scandinavian ceremonial burl-wood tankard she had brought to the show. Even in sickness, Nancy's indefatigable spirit and sense of volunteerism prevailed, and in 2011, she was one of seven recipients of the "Cancer Patient of the Year" title at the June Nylen Cancer Center. After losing her own hair during one of her countless rounds of chemotherapy, she decided to thereafter warm the bald head of any cancer patient who needed protective coverage, and she began designing and donating knitted hats to the Cancer Center, a task she did joyfully up until the past month. Her family is steadfastly grateful to the fine care she received at the June Nylen Cancer Center, specifically that administered by Drs. Jack Michalak and Donald Wender, as well as all the TLC from the devoted nurses, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, and support staff at the center. In a peculiar way, her family will now miss those near-weekly trips to 230 Nebraska Street. Truly, a gem of a facility right here in River City. Nancy experienced the full panoply of life's rich pageant, triumph and tragedy, but the most important thing to her was always family. As she remarked one day near the end, "All I ever wanted to be, really, was a mother." And what a mother she was. She is survived by her brother, Robert (Molly) Seff of Sioux City, Iowa, her sons, Bill and Greg (Rande) of Sioux City, Iowa, grandchildren Katherine (Brian) Gilman of Stillwater, Minnesota, Julianna Giles of Kenmore, Washington, Rebecca Giles of New York, New York, William Jefferson Giles, V, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and her great-grandson, Liam Gilman of Stillwater, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband. Pallbearers will be: William J. Giles, V, Max Vollmer, Brian Gilman, Jonathan Seff, John Anson, Bob Cowan, Frank Baron, Adrian Roy, Colin Jensen, and John Potash.