Nancy Jane Bragg Rich

Posted


Nancy Jane Bragg Rich, 79, passed away peacefully on January 6 after a long illness. Nancy was born and raised in Highland, New York and was the beloved daughter of the late George Arthur Bragg and Florence Realmuto Bragg. An avid saxophone player, Nancy graduated from Highland High School in June 1959. After graduation, she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to study secretarial sciences at the Humboldt Institute. Nancy was especially proud of her proficient skills on the keyboard where she typed 120 words per minute on the teletype machine and 90 words per minute on the old manual typewriter. After her schooling was complete, Nancy moved to New York City where she landed a job at Pan American World Airlines.

Nancy married Robert Rich, a Coast Guard seaman, in the fall of 1960. She and her husband moved to his hometown of Arlington, Virginia where they settled for 12 years and had three children, Bob, Mikki, and George. After the dissolution of their marriage, Nancy moved back to Highland and raised her children on her own with the help of her parents. Despite her life-long challenges, Nancy was committed to keeping her family together and raising her children as best as she could, with a strong emphasis on their education. She taught them to read at a young age, brought them regularly to the library, and was especially proud to see all three become the first in her family to graduate from college, with her oldest son going on to graduate from Albany Law School. Her daughter became the director of the Office of Children and Family Services in Highland. The family is especially grateful to Nancy’s youngest son, George, who never missed a day of school in 13 years, and who was her devoted primary caregiver for more than three decades.

Nancy was greatly loved and will be missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her three children: Bob Rich and his wife, Dawn of Gardiner, Mikki Judge and her husband, Bill, and George Rich, all of New Paltz. She was the beloved grandmother of five grandchildren: Joseph Judge and his wife, Brianne, Ryan Judge and his husband, Ross, Julia Judge, Mandy Rich and her fiancé, Augustus, and Jenny Rich as well as great grandmother to Madighan and Harper Judge. She is also survived by her younger sister, Linda Stueber, her husband Fritz and their daughter, Heidi, all of Highland.

Services will be private.