I first met Nancy in 2009, due to her having invited me to testify in opposition to HB 303, a then pending bill seeking to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia in the New Hampshire Legislature.
The bill was defeated in large part due to her efforts, both in front and behind the scenes.
Two years later, a similar bill, HB 513, was defeated on the House floor 234 to 99. The majority committee report gave these reasons for the defeat:
[T]his bill would [have legalized] state-sanctioned suicide for people with terminal illnesses [,which] is an area where government does not belong. People with terminal illnesses who may consider suicide do not need encouragement from the government. The committee further believes that this bill is a recipe for elder abuse. The committee also recognizes that doctors’ diagnoses and predictions may be incorrect; numerous cases exist where people have lived far beyond their doctor’s predictions, some of them having been cured from their terminal disease. For these reasons, the committee strongly believes that this bill represents bad policy and practice and recommend inexpedient to legislate.[1]
In the years that followed, Nancy continued her fight against assisted suicide legalization in other jurisdictions, including Connecticut and Massachusetts. She worked hard and was also a lot of fun. She is greatly missed.
Per Nancy's obituary, she had been a resident of Merrimack New Hampshire for the past 32 years. She was born in Memphis Tennessee on May 18, 1952, daughter of Kertland and the late Georgia E. (Gregory) Black. She grew up in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts and was a graduate of Tynsborough High School Class of 1970.
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[1] House Journal, Vol. 33, No. 28 (scroll down to HB 513) .