Stories of Faith

The oldest member in her congregation, Nancy Egbert, who recently turned 96, is an outstanding example of Christian love, dedication, endurance and wisdom.

“Miss Nancy,” as she is affectionately called by her congregation, is a widow, deaconess and former elder’s wife. She has nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Nancy has a wealth of experiences to share from travel and her many decades in the Church.

The first and only child of a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, she was born on Aug. 23, 1930, in a military hospital at Fort Totten, New York. Her mother was the daughter of a West Point graduate, and most of her immediate relatives were active in the Service or married into it. So that was practically the only life she knew in her early days!

Being a military child, she got to travel to places her father was stationed. Her favorite place to live was the Pacific side of Panama, in the Canal Zone, which was United States territory until 1979. She fondly remembers looking out of her window overlooking the forest, which she was not allowed to enter.

Nancy met her husband, John Egbert, while at George Washington University in DC, where she was studying psychology and art. They were married soon afterward, on May 24, 1952, and had four children: Lynn (now deceased), Karen (who sadly died at only three months), Jeb and Carolyn. The family moved first to Maryland, where John finished his engineering degree, and then to California, when he accepted a job as an engineer with Hughes Aircraft in Culver City.

As a young woman, at college and beyond, Nancy loved being involved with people and making a difference wherever she could. She was very active in sororities, women’s wartime efforts and political organizations. And it was indirectly through one of these organizations that God called her to His truth! Nancy had already grown disillusioned with politics and religion, and was looking for something “non-traditional,” as she puts it. So, when a friend and former club member introduced her to the Worldwide Church of God, she knew this was meant to be! She was baptized in the swimming pool on the Pasadena campus on March 24, 1963.

But she found life very difficult for about two years, for her husband did not share her newfound beliefs. She took the children to their first Feast of Tabernacles in Squaw Valley without him, and didn’t know how things would turn out when they returned. But John was waiting for her with flowers when she got back! After a while, and several miraculous healings, John started pursuing the truth and attending church with her. To Nancy’s joy, he was baptized Aug. 22, 1965. Four years later, on Nov. 22, 1969, John and Nancy were ordained deacon and deaconess together.

John’s engineering experience helped him to get a job with the Church’s printing press, and this work often took him and Nancy to many of the Church’s regional offices in Europe. Nancy loved traveling and meeting God’s people in these areas.

Eventually, they moved back to the Eastern United States, where Nancy completed her degree in psychology and went back to work. John was ordained a local elder on Oct. 7, 1978, and Nancy served alongside her husband in many roles, with a focus on the sick or needy brethren.

John died in April 2003, but Nancy has been very active all those years since. Her last job was at Halifax in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area until she was almost 80 and the company closed; then she moved down to Charlotte in 2010 to be closer to her daughter Carolyn. Although officially retired, she continued to serve the Church faithfully in many ways.

Remembering what it was like to attend church for two years without the support of her husband at first, her desire has always been to look out for newcomers and those with physical and other needs. Well into her nineties, she was still driving and giving weekly rides to Sabbath services to those who needed it! At 96, she still attends Sabbath services most weeks, welcomes visitors to church, talks to the young people and remembers their names, gives valuable advice, encourages the speakers and others who are busily serving, prays for brethren and calls them on the phone frequently. 

Nancy’s favorite Bible passage is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). As she says, she and John “shared the same awe of Christ giving that sermon.” And she has certainly lived up to those words of Jesus throughout her decades in God’s Church. She is an inspiring example, and a delight to all those who know her. And she is treasured by her physical family and her church family!