Nancy E. Watson

Nancy E. Watson 64, of Dakota City, NE, passed away September 9, 2022 at a local care center.  A funeral service will be held Saturday, September 17^th at 11 a.m. at Mohr & Becker-Hunt Funeral Home.  Visitation will be Friday from 4-7 p.m. with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at the funeral home.  The prayer service will be livestreamed at http://youtu.be/yKEWA0Xae6g and the funeral at http://youtu.be/WyuCfUPQC7E. Online condolences may be made to www.meyerbroschapels.com.

Nancy Ellen Watson, 64, of Dakota City, NE, lost her battle with ALS and passed away on September 9, 2022. Nancy was born to Gale and Opal “Ann” Custer in Sioux City, IA, on November 15, 1957. Nancy was a rambunctious child and a quick learner: teaching herself how to make her own bottles at age two and read at age three. Throughout her adolescence, she enjoyed riding her bike, eating watermelon on her back porch during a hot day, making mud pies, and entertaining her friends and three brothers. As a teenager, Nancy was popular among her social circles and allegedly caused her mother’s hair to gray early due to her antics. Friendships were very important to Nancy, and she maintained lifelong bonds from her childhood and continued to make cherished new relationships along her life’s journey.

In 1976, Nancy graduated high school from North High School in Sioux City. Two weeks after her graduation, she married Donald “Don” Watson of South Sioux City at Latham Park. Don and Nancy would go on to have three children (William, Lacey, and Amber), building their family home in Dakota City, NE. Although Don and Nancy would divorce in 1996, she continued to reside in that home for a total of 40 years.

Nancy began her career in 1977 with Great West Casualty Company (as a claims supervisor) and grew in her professional roles by next working for Terra Industries Inc. (executive assistant to the CFO, travel coordinator) and Ho-Chunk, Inc. (operations project manager). Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge were instinctive to Nancy, and she continued to expand her expertise by completing numerous business development courses and, eventually, earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Briar Cliff University in 2011 and became a Delta Epsilon Sigma National Honor Society member.

Everyone who knew Nancy, knows she always kept busy—charity and giving back to her community being an essential value to her. While her children were in school, Nancy joined the PTA for several years whereby she coordinated and rallied fundraising efforts for school equipment, functions, and other initiatives. Later, Nancy served tirelessly on Awesome Biker Nights’ board of directors for 10 years (two of which as Chairperson), Western Iowa Tech Community College’s Curriculum Advisory Committee as a committee member, Siouxland Center for Active Generations as a board member, American Heart Association Ball as Co-Chair, and Friends of Latham Park as Co-Chair. She helped raise over $1 million for Siouxland charities.

If you were to ask Nancy of her greatest achievements, however, her children and grandchildren were always the answer. She was happiest spending time with her children and grandchildren. Nancy’s grandchildren in particular held a special place in her heart and she was present for each one of their births. She often joked that she was going to live in a “granny pod” in her daughter Lacey’s backyard because she did not want to miss anything in their lives. Nancy delighted in family outings, and it did not matter if it was a night at the Orpheum, a cruise around town on a Friday night, a trip to Starbucks, or joining family vacations to various cities such as Bismarck, Branson, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, and Savannah. She took pride in purchasing her grandchildren clothes, toys, and treats that their parents didn’t always let them have, as well as other gifts—not just on birthdays and holidays but because she would see something and thought to herself “they needed that.” Nancy was always there for her grandchildren, not only for significant events in their lives like the latest school concert or an opening night of a play they were in, but she always had an ear to listen and a big hug whenever she saw them. She also strived to impart the importance of charity and giving back, and her children and grandchildren spent years learning the power of volunteering at the many charity events in which she was involved and the impact of such positive actions.

Surviving Nancy are her siblings, Ray (Patricia) Custer of Urbandale, IA, Donnin Custer (Eunice Acker) of Montrose, CO, and Linden (Shawn) Custer of Commerce, GA, her children William Watson, Lacey Watson (James Keller), Amber Bekish, and grandchildren, Riley Watson, Lilly Keller, and Sophie Watson, along with several nephews and nieces.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to the ALS Association Mid-America Chapter at www.alsintheheartland.org or Latham Park at www.lathampark.com.