NEW SCOTLAND — Nancy Worthley Thomas, longtime resident of New Scotland, loved books and had many close friends. She died peacefully on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. She was 71.

Born in Saranac Lake on April 25, 1947, she was the eldest of three children of Roland and Ruth Thomas. Her childhood was happily spent on the water helping her family’s business, The Thomas Boat Livery. She accompanied her dad daily on the 32-mile three-hour tour boat The Miss Saranac and the replica sternwheeler he built, The Nancy Carol, named for her and her sister, Carolyn.

In high school, she worked as a library page and later at the telephone company and enjoyed both experiences immensely. She was named valedictorian of the graduating class of 1965.

After graduating from the University at Albany, she worked in the title industry in Rochester and eventually retired from Sneeringer Monahan Provost and Redgrave Title in Albany in 2012 with fond memories of many friends along the way.

She embraced many pursuits: A love of reading led to a lifelong feeling of comfort and belonging in any library she entered. The staff at the Voorheesville Public Library always provided a highlight to her day, as did her association with the New Scotland Town Food Pantry and the Albany Beagle Meet-up Group.

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Nancy Worthley Thomas is survived by her niece, Jennifer L. Thomas of Saranac Lake. She valued highly the friendship of childhood friends Joanne Petty Manning, Marsha MacDowell Morgan, and James Goodrich. In adulthood, she treasured the friendship of Diane Hogan and the Hogan Family, Mary Googas and the Googas Family, Anna Mattei, EJ and Charles Vandergrift, Deb Lucas and Kevin Manning, Audrey and Ron Osterlitz, and Joseph Becker.

Her parents, Roland and Ruth Thomas, died within six months of each other in 1965; her sister, Carolyn Wright Thomas, died in 1995; and her brother, Stephen Ford Thomas, died in 2011.

A memorial service with Holly Cameron officiating will be held at New Scotland Presbyterian Church, at 2010 New Scotland Rd. in Slingerlands on Saturday, March 2, at 11:30 a.m.

Nancy requests that her friends reading this simply perform a kindness for a stranger today in her memory.