Nancy Louise Wilson (née Wood) passed from this world and met her family who preceded her in death at the Gate on January 24th, 2025. Her extraordinary life began on June 26th, 1960, when she was born to Mary Lou Augusta Wood Moe (née Kruger) and Robert Emery Wood in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was the beloved youngest of four children and spent her youth in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She graduated from Minnetonka Senior High School in 1978. By the time she was eighteen, she was already a world traveler through a study exchange program called Oceanics, where she worked and sailed on the SS Ariadne through South America, across the Atlantic, and through Europe. Her boundless curiosity, love for learning, and zeal for exploring the world remained with her throughout her life.



She graduated from Goshen College in 1982 with a degree in nutrition, the first in her family to receive a Bachelor’s degree. She married her soulmate, David Patrick Wilson, on August 17th, 1985, and together they raised five children to whom Nancy was the most exceptional mother. While raising their family, she supported her husband’s growing business and while also doing incredible work in the nonprofit sector. She served as the President of the Child Abuse Prevention Council in the early 90s and dedicated a great deal of her time to working at the Beaman Home in Warsaw, Indiana, an organization that provides support to victims of domestic violence and their children.



Her deep well of empathy and compassion for others drove her to pursue other forms of advocacy throughout her life; she had a special talent for alchemizing the pain she endured into meaningful action to help others. After tragically losing her only son, Richard Vesley Wilson, in a kayaking accident caused by an outdated low-head river dam in 2017, she became a passionate public advocate for river recreation safety and organ donation. As a result of her tireless advocacy, the low-head dam in Whitley County that caused her son’s accident was permanently removed from the Eel river in 2020, ensuring that nature-loving adventurers like her son could enjoy river recreation in a safer environment. This removal caused a ripple effect that saw low-head dams removals across Indiana receiving more funding and being successfully executed as recently as 2024, in the name of increased safety for recreation and a healthier environment for the many animals that call Indiana’s rivers home. Nancy was so moved by her son’s legacy as a donor hero, whose gifts saved the lives of five strangers in need of vital organs, that she herself became an organ donor; but of course, she didn’t stop there. She became a public advocate to tell her son’s story and raise awareness about the many people in need of life-giving organ transplants. She joins her son as a donor hero whose gifts, to date, have granted life-saving organs to at least two people.



Nancy was an avid reader, a passionate life-long learner, and a talented creative writer. She particularly loved learning about history, art, and science. She relished the chance to discover something new about the world and share it with those close to her whom she knew would appreciate her newfound knowledge. She cherished her five grandchildren and every moment she spent getting to be their grandmother. Her wit was sharp, her comedic timing impeccable, and she possessed the keen and rare talent of knowing exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. The light of her soul and the otherworldly grace with which she carried herself cast joy into the hearts of all who were lucky enough to be blessed with her presence, from friends, to strangers, to the family who cherished her.



The depth and quality of her love and loyalty was perhaps known best by the love of her life, David, with whom she shared over 40 beautiful years, five children, and five grandchildren. Their love and commitment to one another endured some of the most painful experiences that can befall parents and partners. Yet, through every devastating hardship they suffered, their dedication to the love they shared and the family they built was, and remains, a guiding north star to not just their children, but also to the many family members and friends who bore witness to their extraordinary life-long love story.



She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Lou Augusta Kruger Wood Moe, her father, Robert Emery Wood, her step-father, Dr. John Moe, and her beloved son, Richard Vesley Wilson. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband, David Patrick Wilson (of Fort Wayne, Indiana); her daughters, Erika Kathleen Wilson and husband Cameron Elliott St. Andrew (of Indianapolis, Indiana); Stephanie Mary Diamante and husband Ricco Diamante and their two sons, Ramiro & Valentino Diamante (of Fort Wayne, Indiana); Christina Marie Wilson and her three children, Carter Warrington, Quinn Warrington, and Leon Borralles (of Greenville, South Carolina); Natalie Danae Wilson and fiancé Seth Dennison (of Indianapolis, Indiana). She is also survived by her loving siblings, Richard Wood and wife Carmen Wood (of Plymouth, Minnesota); Claudia Fussle and husband Reinholt Fussle (of Warsaw, Indiana); Kathleen Wood-Dean and husband Rodney Dean (of Lynden, Washington); Micheal Wood and wife Shannon Wagner Wood (of Surprise, Arizona) and their many children, who were beloved nieces and nephews to Nancy. She is additionally survived by her husband David’s ten siblings, their partners, and their children, whose family considered her one of their own from the very beginning and were deeply loved and cherished by her.



A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday February 8, 2025 at 12 pm with visitation beginning at 11 am at FairHaven Funeral Home, 6557 N. Clinton St. There will also be an Open House Celebration following at Diamanté Studios, 515 W. Wayne St. Fort Wayne in the back brick building with free street parking as well as a large parking lot across the street.