Nancy Carole Forslund Jang, 87, of Princeton, NJ, died on December 25, 2024 at Princeton Medical Center, following a brief illness.
Nancy was born in Callao, Peru, in 1937. Her parents, Evar Forslund, a miner, and Ella Nikula Forslund, a school teacher, left their Finnish American community in Upper Michigan during the economic ravages of the Depression. Eventually Evar found work in Peru, where Nancy and her two sisters were born. The family lived In a tiny mining encampment in the Andes Mountains at an altitude of 13,000 feet. Nancy’s childhood was indelibly shaped by this magical place, a remote, treeless world infused with Spanish and steeped in Quechuan culture. Taught by her mother in a one-room schoolhouse, Nancy would forge lifelong friendships with three of her classmates: brothers Juan and Manuel Proano and their cousin Lucy. The tightly knit group also included Nancy’s sisters Marion and Charlotte.
When Nancy was 13, her family returned to the United States — sailing through the Panama Canal! — and resettled in the Upper Peninsula. A diligent student, she attended high school in Bessemer, Michigan, and worked as a waitress in her mother’s restaurant, The Evergreen Dinette. Nancy attended Michigan State University and studied to become a teacher, as her parents had intended. Yet after graduating Nancy discarded these plans: she had no appetite for disciplining children and longed to see more of the world. After a stint working for the Studebaker Packard auto company in Indiana, she stunned her family by moving to New York City. Arriving with a few dollars in her pocket, she crashed on a friend’s couch until she leveraged her fluency in Spanish to land a job as a social worker in Spanish Harlem. Although Nancy described herself as “poor as a church mouse” and was even mugged on the subway, meeting new people and exploring New York thrilled her. Several years later, after a difficult breakup, she took another leap by moving to Germany to work for the United States Army as a civilian. Nancy rambled throughout Europe on the weekends, soaking up new cultures and sights. In Germany, she met Donald Jang, a Chinese American artist who also worked as a civilian for the Army. A fellow dreamer, Don had shocked his own family by rejecting a practical path after college: he too wanted to see and experience more of the world. Together, hazel-eyed Nancy and Don — with his signature rakish mustache — explored Germany and as much of Europe as they could, making lifelong friends and amazing memories.
After returning to the U.S., Nancy and Don got married in Las Vegas, once again defying family expectations and social conventions as interracial marriage was not only uncommon but, in fact, illegal in many states in 1964. Within a few years, they grew tired of the desert and casinos; so Don — now a high school art teacher — applied for jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area where he had grown up. When he was offered a job in Palo Alto, they picked up stakes; Nancy found work again as a social worker and Don taught art at Palo Alto High School. In Palo Alto they raised two daughters, Jennifer and Samantha. Nancy stayed home with her girls for several years, then landed a job at Stanford University at the Johnson Library of Government Documents, where she worked until her retirement.
It is no secret that Nancy’s greatest joy was being a mother and, later, a grandmother. She worked hard to ensure that Jennifer and Samantha could enjoy an array of middle-class activities and experiences that had been unavailable to her and Don during their respective childhoods: music and dance lessons, Girl Scouts, summer camps, bicycles and roller skates, visits to museums and the theater, and road trips throughout California to appreciate the state’s natural wonders. Nancy was also fiercely proud of her roots in the Upper Peninsula and took her daughters to the Midwest whenever she could. She was also deeply grateful to be an American and exposed Jennifer and Samantha to as many states and regions of the U.S. as possible.
Once she became a grandmother, Nancy showered her granddaughters Emily and Kate with love and affection, books, and her famous near-weekly letters, studded with stickers. A born storyteller, she regaled “Bellina” and “Carissima” with tales of her youth in Peru, her Finn-Swede heritage, and fanciful yarns she invented just for them. In retirement Nancy never lost her love of travel and delighted in visiting family and friends in Lake Tahoe; Sea Ranch; and Hayward, Wisconsin.
Nancy was predeceased by husband Don (1996). She is survived by daughters Jennifer (Sam); Samantha (Danny); granddaughters Emily and Kate; sisters Marion (Jack) and Charlotte (Dick); many, many nieces and nephews; and a host of friends.
A memorial service was held on December 30 at Mather Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton. A second celebration of life is planned for later in the year in the San Francisco Bay Area. Memorial donations may be made to her favorite arts organizations: the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ, or the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
“Sisu” is the Finnish word for grit and determination. Nancy demonstrated her sisu countless times throughout her life and particularly during her last difficult days. We are heartbroken that she has left us, but deeply grateful she is at peace. Her kindness, warmth, generosity, lively mind, sense of humor, and huge heart will be sorely missed. But we know that she will always be with us, especially when we raise a glass of her favorite prosecco, open an enchanting book, or turn our faces into the Pacific Ocean breeze, dreaming of another adventure.