Nancy Penecale Updegrave of Chloe, West Virginia passed away peacefully in Morgantown, WV, on Sunday, February 25, 2024, after 14 months’ treatment for glioblastoma.
Nancy was born in Abington, Pennsylvania on August 26, 1950, the third daughter of Michael Anthony Penecale and Martha Grimason Kelly Penecale. Raised in Blue Bell, PA, she graduated from Wissahickon High School in 1968 where she was a star athlete. She was head cheerleader, swam, played basketball and field hockey, and was an outstanding golfer.
Nancy attended West Chester State College for 2 years, where she played field hockey and basketball, but she completed college and graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1972 with degrees in physical education and sport.
Nancy met Bobby Updegrave in 1973 and followed him to West Virginia, where they first lived in a cellar house without utilitieson Upper Nicut. They later moved to Walnut Road where their children Rebecca (Becky) and Evan were born.
Although their marriage ended in 1995, Nancy lived on the farm on Walnut for the rest of her life. For years, she milked her own cow and had a big vegetable garden every summer. She kept chickens and bees and believed that the pure golden honey in 2021 and 2022 was due to people staying home during the pandemic. She loved to hike to the ridge behind her home and swim in the pond she had built up the hollow.
In the 1970s, Nancy attended nursing school and received her LPN degree. She worked at the State Hospital in Spencer. Though the conditions could be difficult, Nancy had a way of finding humor in the situations she sometimes endured.
For many years, Nancy was a beloved schoolteacher and principal, who had her teaching degree and a master’s in education. She was both principal and teacher at the small multi-graded school at Nebo, WV, with her unwavering assistant, Marlene Potasnik. Nancy had a unique blend of strict discipline and an easygoing teaching style. She especially loved the kindergarteners and first graders with their delight in song and rhymes that taught them their alphabet or the days of the week. Nancy’s classrooms were happy, fun, and smart, just as she was.
Nancy was next principal at the Ivydale, WV, grade school. She had a gift for administration and organization, managing personnel and fundraising, but she would always jump in when things needed to be done, whether it was substituting for absent teachers, mopping up after floods, or acting as school social worker and psychologist. Thanks to Nancy’s grant writing, Ivydale became a community center, providing clothes, food, GED classes for parents, pre-school, and a summer camp.
One of Nancy’s passions as long as she lived in West Virginia was helping her neighbors. She did that well in the school system, but when it became clear she would rise no higher in school administration, she turned from education to insurance. Like her father, Nancy became an extremely successful insurance agent.
The insurance company Nancy worked for, Horace Mann, specialized in insurance for teachers, but Nancy also sold insurance throughout the community. She had her office at the bend just north of Chloe but drove her 4-wheel drive cars wherever people needed her when accidents and natural disasters had to be evaluated for insurance purposes. Nancy was proud of the fact that she refused to sell people more insurance than they needed or could afford even though the company chastised her for that. Despite refusing to “push” insurance on people, Nancy was the top producer of auto insurance in the country and won many prizes as a top agent that included trips to China, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Near retirement, Nancy bought a second home in Morgantown so she would always have a place to stay when she attended as many Mountaineer football and basketball games as possible. She was a vociferous fan.
Among her greatest accomplishments, Nancy was a wonderful mom and a world-class Nana to Liam, Abby, Ryenn, Ava, and Zay.
Nancy will be remembered by her friends and family for her lively personality, her questioning mind, her comedic sense of humor, her fascination with politics, her love of her neighbors and of West Virginia, her very special Italian stuffed shells, and her insistence on doing things her way, with pride, but without judgment.
Nancy is survived by her children, Rebecca Claire Kessler (Joe) and their children, Liam and Abigail Rose (Charleston, WV), and Evan Updegrave (Kiley) and their children Ryenn, Ava and Zay (Morgantown, WV) ; her sisters, Susan Zolla (Alan Bilanin), her nieces Alissa, Mimi and Anne, and Elizabeth McIlwain (Thomas) and her nephews Nicholas, Adam, and Josh; and Nancy’s brother Michael Penecale.
Public visitation will be held at Stump Funeral Home, Arnoldsburg, WV, on Sunday, March 3rd, 2024 from 1 to 3 pm with a remembrance gathering to follow.
“Should friends desire, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Center Endowment Fund.”
