Nancy
Louise Chinn
January 5, 1950 - May 17, 2009
Nancy Chinn, 59, wife, mother,
daughter, sister and Baylor
professor of American literature,
died early Sunday morning in the
Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of the
Baylor University Medical Center in
Dallas. Memorial service will be
1:00 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at Lake
Shore Baptist Church. Visitation
with the family will be 6 to 8 p.m.
Friday, May 22, also at Lake Shore
Baptist Church.
Nancy fought a year-long battle with
leukemia, and at the end, death came
as a friend. Her son, Nathaniel, who
graduated from Trinity University on
Saturday morning, was with her on
Sunday morning. While this illness
kept her from a job she loved, she
was supported through these often
grueling months by a gathering of
friends, family, and colleagues she
had collected over a lifetime, who
hoped and prayed for her recovery
and now mourn her passing. She
leaves a legacy in the lives of the
Baylor students, graduate and
undergraduate, she taught for over
twenty-seven years in the English
Department.
Nancy was born in Fredericksburg,
Virginia to James T. and Louise
Hawkins Chinn, the second of four
daughters. She graduated from the
Lafayette Elementary and James
Monroe High schools in
Fredericksburg, and earned her
Bachelor's and Master's degrees at
Radford University. She taught high
school Latin in Tazewell, Virginia,
before entering Florida State
University to complete a doctorate
in Modern American Literature in
1982. She wrote her dissertation on
the use of music in William Styron's
novel, Sophie's Choice, but her
subsequent research and teaching led
her to the works of a number of
American women writers, including
Zora Neale Hurston and, most
especially, Willa Cather. Nancy
joined the Baylor faculty in the
fall of 1982 as a lecturer, and rose
to an associate professorship,
eventually serving as her
department's Director of
Undergraduate Studies. She saw the
annual Beall Poetry Festival, which
she directed, as a special
opportunity to introduce the
community to contemporary American
poets and verse. She married a
fellow professor, David Longfellow
of the History Dept., on Bastille
Day, 1984 and their son, Nathaniel
(Longfellow) was born in July 1987.
Nancy loved to travel at home and
overseas, and spent happy months
with her family and colleagues in
England and France, but she was
never more content than when she
could sit and read in the family
cabin on Lake Cathance, Maine,
listening to the water lapping on
the rocks, the wind rustling through
the birch trees, and the occasional
cry of a loon on the lake.
Elysium is as far as to
The very nearest Room
If in that Room a Friend await
Felicity or Doom--
What fortitude the Soul contains,
That it can so endure
The accent of a coming Foot--
The opening of a Door--
Emily Dickinson
She is survived by her husband,
David; and son, Nathaniel; as well
as her parents and sisters, Margaret
(Peggy) Hartsell of New Bern, NC,
Susan Busch of Richmond, VA and
Annette Schaul of King George, VA;
as well as their husbands and
children.
The family thanks Dr. Brian Berryman
and the entire staff at the Bone
Marrow Transplant Unit for the
manifold kindnesses and care they
showed Nancy during her treatment.
Published in Waco Tribune-Herald
from 5/20/2009
Memorial gifts for Nancy Chinn may
be made to:
Willa Cather Foundation
www.willacather.org
413 North Webster
Red Cloud, Nebraska 68970
or
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Contribute to Nathaniel’s ‘Team in
Training’
fundraising marathon for the Society
http://pages.teamintraining.org/stx/rnrsa09/nlongfellow
Photo of Nancy by Joe Griffin,
The Baylor Line, Fall 2007
