MARBLEHEAD – Nancy (Welsh) Ryan, 88, died peacefully Feb. 27 following a brief illness.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church at 85 Atlantic Ave. Thursday at 10:30 a.m. The burial will be private.
Instead of flowers, Murphy Funeral Home is requesting donations be made in Ryan’s name to My Brother’s Table in Lynn and Habitat for Humanity of Collier County, Florida.
Born and raised in Marblehead, Ryan was known as a selfless, thoughtful leader, and she made a lasting impact on the Lynn community as she was the last living founder of My Brother’s Table.
Barbara Kulevich, 90, met Ryan about 60 years ago when their children became friends.
“She made me feel at home,” Kulevich said. “She’s one of the kindest, most wonderful friends I have ever had. She gives and gives and gives and makes nothing of it.”
“Every day that I knew her, I could say something wonderful about her. Recently, I wasn’t feeling well — and poor Nancy wasn’t feeling well herself I don’t think — and then came the knock on my door. She would always come and bring handmade goodies.”
Kulevich also remembered her dear friend as “a wonderful mother and wife to her husband” and “a true church-goer, a woman of great faith.”
“It’s hard to describe this woman because I’ll tell you, she was a lovely, lovely lady who loves to help people,” she said. “She’d be (at church) every morning. Whether she was feeling well or not, she’d be there as long as she could come. She’s a very blessed woman and a very holy lady. I do admire that about her.”
Rev. James Morris, who first met Ryan in the 80s, added that she “continues to be, for me, an example of living the Catholic faith and living it graciously.”
“She was an example of somebody who brought her faith into her day-to-day life and who showed the rest of us how to care for those in need, to care for the poor in our midst,” he said, “and she did it humbly, graciously, with a smile.”
Kulevich said she also admired that no feat was ever too big for Ryan. She was a go-getter, a problem solver, and she had a way of getting people to help her with her philanthropic ideas.
Dianne Kuzia Hills, executive director of My Brother’s Table, knew Ryan for almost four decades and praised her for being someone who exuded warmth.
“A lot of people who volunteered with her (at My Brother’s Table) didn’t even know that she was a founder. She just acted like another volunteer. She was extremely humble and very, very kind,” Kuzia Hills said. “She loved our guests more than anybody. She just absolutely loved the people who came here, and her vision – which was shared by the other founders — was really to have a place that not only gave people food, but a place where they knew they were welcome, that they were loved.”
She said Ryan “had a true sense of empathy for people.”
“No matter what the person’s life was like — whether it was the most wealthy donor or the most humble guest of ours — she treated people with equal kindness,” Kuzia Hills said. “I think in a lot of ways, her lasting legacy for us is that it’s not just about providing food for people, but it’s also about really treating them kindly and with warmth and dignity.”
“We’ll miss her deeply. She was really the heart of the Table.”
