Nancy was born on August 8th, 1938. She was the only child of Rudie & Margaret (Grefe) Jehn. She grew up in the company town of Nahma, located in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The town was built by the Big Bay De Noc Lumber company for their employees. Nancy's father, Rudie, was Paymaster of the lumber company. It had everything a small town could need – school, post office, general store, clubhouse and the sandy shores of Big Bay De Noc. Nancy was the only girl in the Nahma High School graduating class of 1956. There was a grand total of 8 members in the class. Nancy enjoyed spending time on the shores of Lake Michigan and at her family's cabin located on Mahskeekee Lake, north of Nahma.

Many stories were told about how big the fish were but got away when her Uncles from Wisconsin came to the cabin to visit and do some fishing. Nancy soon discovered there was more to life then the small town of Nahma, and went to a big city to attend Northwestern University Nursing School (Go Wildcats!) in Evanston Illinois from ‐ 1957 to 1961. Here she noticed a farm boy from Oklahoma working as an orderly, her soon to be future husband Jim Dester. Nancy continued her studies at Northwestern and Jim moved to Sycamore Illinois to attend classes at Northern Illinois University (Go Huskies!). Nancy and Jim were married in Evanston on September 9th, 1961 and rented a house in Sycamore while Jim finished up his degree.

Nancy began working as a nurse at Sycamore Hospital and Jim started work at Duplex Products after graduating from NIU. Soon Jim's job took them to York PA, where Duplex opened a new plant and they lived in York for 8 years. While living in York, Nancy put her Nursing skills to work at the York Hospital. They decided to start a family, and their only son was born in 1970. In 1973, Jim's job took him back to Sycamore. Nancy decided to be an at home Mom and did bookkeeping for some local businesses.

She also enjoyed baking and made hundreds of cookies every Christmas! Which she shared with family and friends. In 2000 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She remained in remission until her death. Sadly, Nancy suffered from severe Dementia and Parkinson's in the last several years of her life. Nancy stayed in her home until late August of 2019 when she was moved to an Elder Care nursing facility.

She is preceded in death by her parents and her dogs: Dusty, Rocky, Tiger, Wags & Emma.

She is survived by her husband and son, Patrick, and many Grefe cousins in Wisconsin.

Nancy requested not to have any service and that any donations should be sent to Best Friends Animal Society, The Barn on Baseline, and Oaken Acres Wildlife Center.

Arrangements were completed by the Butala Funeral Home and Crematory, Sycamore, IL.  To sign the online guest book, go to www.ButalaFuneralHomes.com