Posted on 08/08/2019
Nancy Slaven Reams (JULY 30, 1928 – JULY 31, 2019)
Nancy Slaven Reams considered herself an Annapolitan even though she lived in many US Navy towns from her birth until her mid 30’s. Her father, Franklin Wilber (Red) Slaven, USNA Class of 25, married Anne Kathryn Redmond of Annapolis whose family lived on Duke of Gloucester Street. Anne’s father ran a drug store on West Street.
Nancy was born in Long Beach, CA, on July 30, 1928, where her father was serving as a naval officer. She moved to other Navy ports with her parents and two sisters, Sugar (Anne) and Jane. She lived in Annapolis during WW II while her father served in the North Atlantic. She graduated from Annapolis High, now Maryland Hall, and she attended both Hood College and then University of California Berkley, receiving an Associate of Arts degree. When she was 20, she married Benton Reams, USNA Class of 1948. Nancy and Benton lived in Mare Island, Honolulu, New London, Key West, Monterey, Norfolk, Portsmouth, NH, and San Diego among other places before settling for good in Maryland in 1964. In 1994, they moved from Bowie into Annapolis to occupy the house that was her parents’ and which she always considered to be home.
Nancy loved nature and in younger life expressed herself by gardening to restore natural woodland and native gardens and to represent nature through her watercolor paintings. She was motivated to preserve woodland and wild places because as a child she visited and stayed “up the river” at her grandparents’ “wilderness” camp in Epping Forest on the Severn River. She often recounted how she would leave their primitive houseboat early in the morning and escape into the woods to explore freely with unlimited boundaries and no obligations. Nancy was also bonded to the Severn and its creeks, seeking its wildlife while paddling in a homemade kayak. She was a regular to be seen on Weems Creek in her plastic kayak well into her early 80's. Nancy loved animals, and she reared her human family always in the company of cats, birds, mice, dogs, an occasional snake, turtles, salt-water starfish, fresh-water tropical fish, and horses.
Nancy always enjoyed Annapolis history and early American history. She volunteered as a docent at the Paca House, the Hammond Harwood House, and the Charles Carroll House. She gave walking tours of downtown Annapolis dressed in period costumes and shared this love with some of her nine grandchildren.
She was active in her community and volunteered as a Cub Scout, Brownie, and Girl Scout leader. She was honored for her rescue of a young boy who was drowning when he fell through the ice.
Above all else, she loved Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and has lived her life to serve him since she was a young wife and mother. She and Benton always found a church to attend at each duty station. She enrolled the three children in Sunday School and volunteered in the life of the church and the community. In her later years, Nancy attended the USNA Chapel and then most recently the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Annapolis.
During her later years, she was unable to drive a car but could be seen driving an electric scooter around the Wardour and West Annapolis neighborhoods. Nancy passed away peacefully at the Hospice of the Chesapeake Inpatient Center in Pasadena, MD, on July 31, 2019.
Nancy was pre-deceased by her husband, Benton Edgington Reams, her sister, Anne Slaven Parr, a nephew, Steven Franklin Parr, and a grand-daughter, Carolyn Anne Reams. She is survived by a sister, Jane Slaven Nelson and three children; Suzanne Bridges of New York, Hugh Reams of Bowie, and Nancy Deibert of Edgewater. She has eight surviving grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
A Memorial Service to honor her life will be held at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Annapolis, 710 Ridgely Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401, on Monday, August 19, 2019 at 1 PM.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her honor to either: EP Church of Annapolis, 710 Ridgely Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21401 attn: Building Fund
Family has asked the church to specifically use those donations for elevator or other upgrades to improve accessibility https://www.epannapolis.org/
Disabled Children's Fund, PO Box 4712, Crofton, MD 21114 http://disabled-child.org/ for more information on that organization.
John M. Taylor Funeral Home
Annapolis, MD
410-263-4422
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/annapolis-md/nancy-reams-8795769