Nancy Lee (Benson) Bleakney was born on June 21, 1936, to parents who adored their only child, Willard and Martha Benson.
She left her three children and friends who adore her on Feb. 19, 2024.
Nancy grew up on the Benson family farm in the Silverton Hills, attending the tiny grade school there with classmates that included Lewis Earl Bleakney, whom she married on Dec. 6, 1958. They were together until Earl passed away in 2013.
After high school, Nancy attended the University of Oregon and then the nursing program at Oregon Health Sciences University. She maintained friendships with her UO and OHSU roommates and classmates, as well as close relationships with those who worked alongside her at Silverton Hospital, where she worked for many years as a labor and delivery nurse. She was proud of the babies she helped into the world.
Nancy and Earl took over the family farm in the late 1960s and she returned to her childhood home and lived there until her passing.
Nancy loved to work in the yard and relished growing vegetables in the garden. She poured through seed catalogs and started pea seeds in the late winter to plant early in the spring. She was a skilled food preservationist and could use a pressure cooker to can just about anything, including fresh tuna and home-smoked salmon. Sweet/sour pickles and tomato chili sauce were just two of her specialties.
Nancy is survived by her three children, Leann, Dean and Joann, and her faithful furry companions, Marvin and Cleo, as well as friends and neighbors.
A celebration of her amazing life will be planned for a later time. In the meantime, her family would suggest any remembrances be offered to the Silverton Historical Society. Arrangements by Unger Funeral Chapel – Silverton.
