Nancy Carol Clarke

Nancy Carol Clarke, 87, of Peterborough, passed away peacefully on May 21, 2025, at Langdon Place of Keene NH with her daughter by her side. Nancy was born in Norwalk, CT on April 29, 1938, and was the eldest daughter of William French and Carol Ann (Morehouse) Jones.

Nancy grew up in Darien, CT and lived with her mother and maternal grandparents until age 7 while her dad was fighting in WWII. Nancy attended Darien public schools and later graduated from Mount Holyoke College, class of 1960. While at Mount Holyoke, she met Bradford W. Ketchum, Jr. on a blind date and whom she would marry in 1962. They moved to St. Paul Minnesota, where Nancy taught 2nd grade at The Summit School for Girls before settling in New Jersey where they started their family. Nancy, a stay-at-home mom, was very involved in her local community where she volunteered for programs including Meals on Wheels and The Women’s League. She also participated in local community theater productions - most notably, The Velveteen Rabbit, where she played the lead role as the Rabbit. Nancy, Brad and family then moved to Needham, MA, ultimately settling in Hancock, NH in 1975.

After divorcing in 1977, Nancy began working at The First National Bank of Peterborough as a Customer Service Officer, helping families new to the area get settled in by opening new bank accounts and connecting them with community resources throughout the Monadnock Region. After nearly 20 years with FNBP (later to become Granite Bank), Nancy made many wonderful connections lasting for decades.

In 1994, she took a new position at Monadnock Community Hospital as an Administrative Assistant and the Volunteer Coordinator in the Philanthropy Community Relations Department. Thriving in this role, Nancy absolutely loved working at the hospital. During this time, Nancy also served one year as President of The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, bridging the gap between people new to the area and current Peterborough residents, many of whom wished to either start new businesses or were looking for ways to become more involved in the community Nancy called "home."

Nancy, known fondly as a "people person,” lived by the adage, “strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.” Often leading with inquisitive questions like, "where did you grow up?, where did you go to school?, where do you live?, do you have family in the area?…” when meeting someone for the first time, as it was always her intention to think about possible connections in her "mental rolodex.” She always loved visiting with new friends and old friends alike at local functions and social gatherings, and was eager to make people feel welcome, and relevant as she regularly acknowledged them for their important contributions to the community, no matter how big or small. Extremely social and engaging, she loved to catch up with friends over a toffee cookie and tea, a glass of wine at the bowling alley or a Pizza Barn sub and a root beer! Nancy loved books, art, music, antiques, and sports, thanks to years of watching the Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics games with her son, Brad. As an avid tennis fan, one of her favorite memories was attending the US Davis Cup matches with Brad held in 1999 at the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill. Nancy loved traveling when possible and thoroughly enjoyed her guided tour of the National Parks that she took as a solo adventure once she retired from the hospital and on multiple occasions, ventured both far and wide, to visit her good friend, Pat. Nancy was a voracious reader, loved watching old movies, playing Scrabble with her Long Hill neighbor friend, Faith, and reminiscing with her college roommate, Joy, about all those happy times at Mount Holyoke. More recently, she relished the memories and fun times shared with her best friend, Terry, or "Freaking Terry”, as she is lovingly known in the family.

Nancy also loved singing and always said she'd like to come back as Julie Andrews. She was happy just belting out ABBA tunes in her car or singing hymns with her beautiful soprano voice in the All Saints Episcopal Church congregation and choir. She and daughter, Amy, often sang together in church and shared many duets over the holidays. Nancy joined The Monadnock Chorus in 1979 and later became Treasurer as she participated in several concerts over the years. She made many new friends while also meeting her second husband, David Clarke.

While Nancy’s life was filled with abundant love for, and from all her friends and family, she faced - and overcame - many challenges throughout her life, tackling each with a warrior’s strength and fierce determination. She stared down and beat breast cancer with full force, survived a serious boating accident breaking her collarbone and 2 vertebrae in her back and successfully rehabbed for 5+ weeks after shattering her femur and hip joint while on a much anticipated first-time trip to Hawaii, having to return home prematurely missing out on her time on the Island, as planned, with her good friend, Bobbie.

Nancy always found the strength and will to move forward. This was never more true than after losing her Hancock house and everything she owned to fire in the winter of 2006. In search of a new home, she found solace on Long Hill Road in Peterborough where she lived happily until her declining health this past March. Consistent with everything that had happened in her life, and with her second divorce in her rear view mirror, Nancy moved on to the next chapter with great resilience and grace. She was always a fighter, but her recent (and final) life challenge proved to be just too much to overcome as it required more strength than she could muster. Nancy made it very clear, right up to her last breath, that she was at peace, acknowledging that she lived a full and wonderful life while making sure it would be known to her dearest friends and family that she was forever grateful and cherished each and every minute of the time spent together and the beautiful memories that were created.

Nancy is survived by her son, Bradford W. Ketchum, III, and wife, Joan; her daughter, Amy M. Theriault, and husband, Bill; and her six grandchildren, Taylor, Ethan, Will, Emma, Oliver and Amelia, all of whom she loved “more than anything else in this world." Nancy is also survived by her ex-husband and friend to this day, Brad Ketchum Jr.; brother, Bill Jones Jr., and wife Gretchen; sister, Susan (Jones) O’Keeffe, and husband, Rich; and brother-in-law, Diederik van Renesse and many nieces and nephews. Nancy is pre-deceased by her son, Timothy Morehouse Ketchum; her parents, Bill and Carol Jones; her sister, Kathryn (Jones) van Renesse; and her great friends, Doc & Fran Eggers and Nancy & Linn Perkins, collectively, her pillars of strength during the good times and the challenging times.

Nancy’s family would like to thank Langdon Place of Keene for the incredible care she received during her brief time there along with her team of knowledgeable and thoughtful nurses that tended to every need, whim and concern. Thank you so very much for allowing our mother to leave us with grace, love and dignity - you helped make all the difference.

Nancy will be missed deeply, both by her community and her family who loved and cherished her with the same unconditional love she always gave to them.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Nancy’s name to any of her three favorite nonprofits: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Monadnock Community Hospital and The Peterborough Town Library.  Thank you.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date, and we will update this information once it is available.

To share a memory, or to leave the family a message of condolence, please visit Nancy’s tribute page at www.jellisonfuneralhome.com