Nancy Cortner of Carlisle, PA, passed peacefully on January 11, 2022 at the Copper Ridge Memory Care home in Sykesville, MD.
Born Nancy Carolyn Daugherty on January 24, 1934 in Washington, DC, she was the daughter of the Reverend Simpson Bender Daugherty and Nan Murray Daugherty. Having grown up in the church, her faith remained strong throughout her life. She was a member of the U.S. Army War College Memorial Chapel and St. John’s Episcopal Church of Carlisle. She was an active Bible student and teacher and sang in the church choir for decades.
Nancy attended Carlisle Senior High School graduating at the top of her class in 1951. She graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1955 with a degree in English and French and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After teaching school in Doylestown, PA, she used her teaching degree to see the world. She taught school at Air Force bases with posts in Bermuda and England, during which time she traveled extensively throughout Europe, Russia and the Middle East. In England, she met her first husband, Major Joseph B. Baggett, an Air Force fighter pilot. They married and had two children, Jennifer and Laura. Married only four years, Maj. Baggett was killed in Vietnam, leaving Nancy with her two small children whom she raised as a strong single mother for seven years. She then married Col. Sanders (Sandy) Cortner, a colonel in the U.S. Army and a student at Carlisle’s U.S. Army War College. They blended their two families, adding Catherine Cortner as Nancy’s third daughter.
After moving to a variety of posts, Nancy and Sandy settled in Carlisle, PA, as part of the U.S. Army War College faculty. Nancy embraced her role as a military wife and partner, holding various leadership and volunteer positions, always warmly welcoming new military families to their new post. She was the consummate hostess, and was well-known for entertaining, from small intimate luncheons and dinners to elaborate open houses, taking great pleasure in cooking and baking the food herself. Nancy and Sandy continued to travel after retirement with memorable trips to include an Amazon river boat trip in Brazil, a cross-Canadian train trip and multiple trips to Europe. She had a wide circle of friends with whom she shared a love of the church, theater, music, art and history.
In her last decade of life, Nancy suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease, yet throughout retained her love of family and music. She was known as the “lady with the beautiful singing voice,” which her fellow residents and caregivers enjoyed daily. She was a kind, gentle, generous soul who will be remembered well by her loving family and friends as someone with incredible wisdom, perspective, and a quiet but keen wit. She is survived by her daughters Cathy Anderson and her husband Mike, Jennifer Cortner and her husband Bruce Scallon and Laura Cortner, along with three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren and a large, loving group of nieces and nephews.
A memorial service and inurnment ceremony will be scheduled in the spring at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Carlisle.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests any donations to be directed to the National Military Family Association, a non-profit organization founded by military wives to provide military spouses with scholarships and support.