Nancy J. (Smigala) Nurnberg

Nancy J. Nurnberg, 86, of Torrington, CT, passed away after a somewhat unexpected and brief illness on October 26, 2023, at Valerie Manor.

Nancy was born November 2, 1936, in Danbury, CT, the daughter of the late Henry and Evelyn (Zwecker) Smigala. After graduating with an RN degree in nursing from St. Vincent in Bridgeport, she moved to Hawaii to begin her nursing career. She met her late husband Ron while in Hawaii, fell in love, and later moved from Hawaii back to her husband’s birth state of IL where she continued to practice nursing. They later moved back to Connecticut. She worked many years for a local family practice until she was stricken with Guillian Barre leaving her with life altering physical limitations ultimately ending her nursing career, however, allowing her the opportunity to be at home to raise her 2 sons and contribute to the mission of the Litchfield VNA.

She enjoyed the outdoors where she could always be found maintaining her beautiful gardens of flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. She was an avid swimmer which contributed to her maintaining her mobility. She also enjoyed cooking and canning the bounty of her gardens. She and her late husband Ron would spend many, many hours in the kitchen canning dill pickles and beets, homemade ketchup, sun pickles, corn relish, jams, jellies and other yummy baked goods.

She enjoyed holidays maintaining very strict traditions around celebrating them. Those of us near to her know exactly what I mean – pictures were always involved, lots of them!! Weekends were filled with socializing and entertaining with family and friends. She was a very devout Christian maintaining her faith through all the health challenges during her lifetime. Her faith and devotion to God kept her going. She was a very active member of St. Peters Lutheran church in Cornwall and often contributed her time to volunteering at church functions.

She was a sweet and caring human being loved by her family and too many friends to mention. Her dedication, strength, and perseverance in facing the challenges presented to her throughout her lifetime should serve as an inspiration to us all. She had a stubborn, no-nonsense personality which assisted her in remaining as independent as possible, for as long as possible. Her perseverance to overcome every obstacle is her legacy. She will be missed for sure and there aren’t enough words to express our loss. We all will miss her and hope that all of you keep your memories of Nancy in your hearts forever – “Grief is Loves Souvenir”.

She is survived by two sons, Ronald L. Nurnberg II (Kristina) of Harwinton, CT, Timothy Nurnberg of Morris, CT, a sister Carolyn Eckardt of Union, ME, two granddaughters Meg and Tori Nurnberg of Litchfield, CT, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband Ron and her sister Evelyn.

A Private memorial service will be arranged at a future date.