Nancy Carol Jacobs Czernek

Nancy Jacobs Czernek, 77, of Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, passed away on March 29th, 2026. She is survived by her husband, Andrew; daughter, Anne Czernek; sisters Judy Littlefield, Gloria (Charles) Nofsinger, Marilyn (Chris) Phillips, and Patty (Mark) Maston; and brother Paul Jacobs. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lester Todd Jacobs and Amy Korta Jacobs, brother-in-law Art Littlefield, sister-in-law Sherry Jacobs, as well by close childhood friend Margaret Smith.

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/START a life well-led.

Nancy was born in Peoria, Illinois on July 31, 1948 and raised in a devout Presbyterian family. In 1966 she graduated from Richwoods High School in Peoria. She went to Cook County Hospital's School of Nursing in Chicago, getting her diploma as a Registered Nurse in 1969.

Nursing school was a happy time because her sister and future brother-in-law both attended the school, as did her close friend Margaret Smith, and she acquired many lifelong friends.

Later in life she had a sweatshirt made to commemorate the nursing school and it was only supplanted with pride by Harvard and Carleton sweatshirts when daughter Anne graduated from both universities.

As a young woman she worked for more than 20 years in Chicago hospitals, including Evanston Hospital, Weiss Memorial Hospital, Illinois Masonic Hospital and Cook County Hospital. She also served several years as a Visiting Nurse. Her husband dragged her off to Hutchinson, MN, where she worked for a year at the community hospital. They relocated to Washington State in 1993, where she worked for almost 20 years until retirement as a discharge planner at Providence Everett Medical Center.

Nonetheless, she always considered herself a Chicagoan because her daughter was born there and Nancy came to maturity in the city.

Her passion for cooking and entertaining was kindled after Nancy and Andy purchased their first home in Chicago and she found a neighbor who was equally interested in kitchen arts. In 1990, she left nursing for a year to go to professional cooking school at Le Cordon Bleu Chicago.

She met her husband in Chicago and married in December, 1976. She enjoyed traveling extensively to England and France, throughout the Caribbean and to Hawaii and Alaska. In the U.S. she was his co-pilot on flights in a Mooney or a Cessna across the Midwest and West Coast.

Her love of singing made her a regular at Seattle's University Presbyterian Church. Later in Minnesota, she joined the Giving Voice Mid-town choir.

Years before her passing, Nancy asked that any donations in her name be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players."

With Nancy's passing, we lost a beautiful and talented player.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, May 15th at 2pm, at St. Peders' Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.