Nancy Erreca Robertson

May 10, 1938 - January 27, 2020

Nancy was born in Los Banos, CA on May 10,1938. She passed away January 27, 2020. Her parents were John (Chuck) Erreca and Ida Mae Cronwell. Nancy was a fourth generation Californian. Her great, great grandmother came from New York state and walked across Panama before the canal was built, headed for the California gold rush. Her great grandmother was born in California gold mining camp.

Nancy graduated from Los Banos High School as Class Valedictorian and first singles on the girls' tennis team. She graduated from Stanford University in 1960 with a major in Political Science.

She was on the eve of joining the Peace Corps in India, when I reconnected with her in San Francisco and proposed within a week. We had been friends in Palo Alto but never dated before. We married several months later in 1965. We marked our 54th anniversary on April 24, 2019. On our honeymoon we spent 40 flying hours touring all over Mexico in my little Cessna airplane, dropping in on smaller communities such as Las Mochis, Culiacan, and Guaymas as well as the bigger ones, such as Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City. Nancy soon became an expert navigator and pilot.

On one memorable short flight from Palo Alto to Healdsberg, to show her first child to his great grandmother, our 110 pound German Shepherd, Egor, who loved flying, broke through the rear of the baggage compartment, attempting to walk toward the tail among the control cables. Fortunately Nancy had a tight leash on him. Holding our young child in one arm, she managed to coax Egor back with the other. This led a short time later to entreaties from Nancy to sell the plane - which we did with a S. F. Chronicle Want Ad. When we sold the plane and Nancy called to cancel the ad, the Chronicle ad staff somehow convinced Nancy to participate in a promotional sales program, "I sold my airplane with a Chronicle Want Ad".

Nancy gained some notoriety from the campaign, which ran for some time with half-page to full page photos of her. My co-workers saw it and kidded me with, "...you wimp, next she'll be selling your golf clubs!"

Always interested in politics, Nancy worked briefly in State Assemblyman Gordon Winton's office. Her first day, she met Rose Bird, a co-worker, the future Calif. Supreme Court Justice, who helped her find an apartment and frequently walked to the Capital with her.

After marriage and moving to Portola Valley, Nancy joined the League of Women Voters. She monitored PV Town Council meetings for the League and also briefed local senior citizens on election issues. She served on the PV town Council for 8 years. Over the years she served on many committees and positions, including Parks and Recreation, Finance, and a term as Town Mayor in the '80s. This led to membership in the League of California Cities. This was a particularly nostalgic position for her because her dad, Chuck Erreca, the longtime Mayor of Los Banos, had been elected by all the mayors of member cities of California to serve as president of the league. He was a very proud father!

Besides being an excellent wife and mother to her three sons, Nancy had many other interests. She was an avid tennis and paddle tennis player, horsewoman, pianist, golfer and bird shooter (and a good shot - which she took pains to remind me on occasion). She appeared on the TV quiz show, Jeopardy. She appeared in many community fundraising productions for the PV PTA. For years she was one of a small team of local ladies who wrote lyrics for songs commemorating the lives, birthdays, and anniversaries of neighborhood friends. She loved Stanford football, women's basketball and whipping out one of the morning Chronicle crossword and sudoku puzzles, (both in ink) while enjoying her morning coffee.

Until nearly the end of her life she was a self-described "political junkie", turning on C-Span or MSNBC each morning at 4 AM to stay informed on political issues.

Over the years Nancy had survived breast and lung cancer along with several lung conditions. In April 2017 during a routine follow-up study, it was determined that carcinoids the same type as removed from her lung three years earlier had migrated to her liver. Nancy declined chemotherapy citing quality of life issues. She remained active, playing golf and paddle tennis until about March 2019, when she went into decline. The family thanks her oncologist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the doctors, nurses, and home health care aides of Mission Hospice in San Mateo for their wonderful assistance of Nancy.

Nancy is survived by me, her husband of 54 years, Tim, here in Menlo Park, our three sons: Paul in Cape Town South Africa, John and longtime girlfriend (Kim Letven) in Brooklyn, NY, and Michael and longtime girlfriend (Preeya) in La Honda. Michael's daughter (Haley) in Santa Cruz, CA (now a freshman at Chapman College in Orange, CA). Nancy is also survived by her brother, Bobby in Los Banos and her sister, Charlene, in Cortez, Colorado.

A celebration of Nancy's life is planned tentatively for the weekend of March 21/22 in the PV/Menlo Park area when our three sons will be here.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 13, 2020

Dear ClassMates,

This note is to inform you of the passing of our dear classmate
"Nancy Erreca Robertson."

Our class has sent a memorial donation to "Valley Children's Hospital" in memory of her.
May 2020 make all of our wishes come true.

Best wishes to all, 

Raymond Freitas