Nancy Eleanor Peakes Pike, a long-time resident of Princeton and Montgomery Townships, died September 28 at Brandywine Senior Living at Princeton. She was 91.
Born in Cambridge, and raised in Weston, MA, she was the daughter of the late Seldon Charles Peakes and Christine Newborg Peakes. She graduated with honors from the Boston University School of Public Relations in 1949 with a B.S. in journalism. During college she was President of Phi Gamma Nu, a national professional sorority in Commerce, and a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, the national honorary journalism fraternity. Following graduation, she became a reporter for the Daily News Tribune, a Waltham, MA afternoon daily newspaper.
Nancy met her future husband, the late Winthrop Seeley Pike of Wellesley, MA, at St. Mary’s Church in Newton Lower Falls, MA where they married in 1954. After their wedding, she moved to Princeton, where he had joined the RCA Laboratories technical staff following his U.S. Army service in World War II. They started their family the following year, and remained married for over fifty-seven years until his death in 2012. After raising her children, Nancy returned to the publishing world as the Business Manager for Theology Today, the Princeton Theological Seminary’s quarterly journal.
She was an insatiable reader, reading at least two newspapers daily and several books weekly; and a prolific and clever writer, whose letters, cards and notes remain treasured by family and friends. An avid Red Sox fan, who loved sharing memories of being at Fenway Park with her father starting at age six, she could readily rattle off player and game statistics. She relished huge family gatherings and vacations in the Adirondack Mountains, and travelling in Europe following retirement. She was a crafty bridge player who regularly played with many friends, a talented baker, and gardener. In later years, she enjoyed the weekly “Tuesday Lunch Group” with her husband and many activities at Brandywine.
Nancy is survived by her loving children Kristina Hadinger and her husband Alfred, Christopher and his wife Leila Shahbender, Karen, Jonathan and his wife Kelly, Eric and his partner Stefan Steil, and Amy Sharpless and her husband Peter; as well as by nine grandchildren Jon, Alfred and his wife Juliane, Julia, Alexandra, Katherine, Justin, Morgan, Sophia and Serena. She is also survived by her dear first cousin Doris Peakes Kendall of Cape Cod, MA, whose friendship lasted over ninety years and long distance.
Burial in All Saints Cemetery, Princeton was private. A memorial service celebrating Nancy’s life will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1 Park Avenue, Rocky Hill, NJ on Saturday, November 9 at 3 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her name to the Trinity Episcopal Church Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 265, Rocky Hill, NJ 08553.