Nancy Tucker
(September 20, 1928 – September 17, 2000)
Nancy Tucker Shaw (née Nancy Ellen Jung, later Shaw), a fan very active in Ann Arbor fandom from the mid-1970s through 1990s, was introduced to fandom by her eldest son, actifan Larry Tucker.
She threw herself wholeheartedly into whatever she did. For the E/c2 ConFusion masquerade in 1979, she dressed as one of the newly resurrected Riverworld denizens of Philip José Farmer’s To Your Scattered Bodies Go and, for authenticity, shaved her head.
She chaired Nine Billion Names of ConFusion in 1981, ConFusion 11 in 1982 and Genuine ConFusion in 1984. She was, briefly, a member of the Detroit in '85 NASFiC bid. She was a founding member of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association and also co-founded and was a President of the Science Fiction Oral History Association. She ran for DUFF in 1995. She was a member of ApaCorps and the Secret Garden apas.
She frequently worked with Larry on fannish projects, including conrunning, videotaping con programming, and the production of Faans, and supported him in many other ways. She was a close friend of Bob Tucker’s; they were no relation, but rarely denied it when clueless fans assumed they were a married couple and Larry was their son.
In 1995, she married Irish BNF and pro Bob Shaw, her second husband, who emigrated to the United States to live with her until illness forced him back to the UK shortly before his death in 1996.
Nancy attended Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, where she later had a career: founding, organizing, and running the School of Education’s audio-visual department. She also worked as Avon sales representative, and as secretary of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ypsilanti, MI. She was an excellent and creative cook and gardener, a pilot, and an SCCA competitive race-car driver.
She had four sons from her first marriage to Tom Tucker (Lawrence, Randolph, Steven and Michael); the marriage ended in divorce when the boys were young. The couple split custody of the four boys between them; she reared the younger pair, while Larry and his next brother were brought up on Chicago’s North Shore by their father. Nancy was related to famed psychiatrist Karl Jung.
In 1998, Nancy suffered a debilitating stroke, after which her health continued to deteriorate.
- SFOHA Newsletter [1980s] (some issues)
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1991 -- Concave 12
- 1999 -- Vintage ConFusion
| Person | 1928—2000 |
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