Janet Lou “Corkey” Blade Dancy was born at her home in Hillsboro, Ohio on March 31, 1936, the middle daughter of Mildred Clio Gayman Blade and Lewis Allen Blade.  She spent her childhood summers at her maternal grandparents’ Ohio farm milking goats and fetching her grandfather from the fields for lunch.  She did not have indoor plumbing until her parents moved into an apartment in Charleston, West Virginia when she was five years old.  Her father’s work in trucking later took them to Charlotte and then Florida, where she graduated from Edgewater High School in 1954.  Her older sister, “Pattie” Jordan, predeceased her in 2019.  Her baby sister, Carol Simpson, survives and thrives.

Her dreams of being a pharmacist were stymied by the sexism of the era, so she moved back to Charlotte and graduated from the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing on August 24, 1957, the same day she married Arthur Franklin Dancy, Jr.  He predeceased her in 2013.  They were deeply in love with each other when they became engaged on Christmas Eve 1956 and remained so until the day he died.  

Much to her chagrin the first house they bought after marrying was not to be her home, but was instead an investment property.  They started patching and painting together on that house and continued doing so on several others throughout their marriage until they couldn’t physically do it anymore.  Eventually they purchased their own home prior to starting their family.  Together they worked and saved and got a little holiday trailer on Lake Wylie before trading up to a canal home at Sunset Beach in 1973.  It was here that they retired and lived until their deaths.  Her children and grandchildren thank them every day for bringing us to this beautiful little island.   

If we didn’t get out of bed in the morning, our mother would belt out “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’” from Oklahoma!.  It was particularly effective at getting us up since she couldn’t carry a tune AT ALL.  It was practical and efficient, two characteristics that Mom had in spades as she worked, kept up her household and carpooled four children to school after cooking a hot breakfast every morning.

Mom was smart, organized and fiercely loyal to her friends and family.  She worked as a nurse and then as an educator, retiring from Central Piedmont Community College.  At nearly every medical appointment we would meet her former students who attested that she was firm but fair.  But we knew that already.  She worked hard, raised four children, doted on seven grandchildren, managed the family finances and painted rental properties on the weekends.  She maintained two homes with kids, dogs, cats, rabbits, goldfish and houseplants, shuttling all of the aforementioned between Charlotte and Sunset in the back of her successive station wagons.  On one trip, she had car trouble and had to stop at a rural garage.  We all climbed out so the wagon could go up on the lift.  The mechanic asked incredulously, “Is that a rabbit in that box?”  “Yes!,” she replied curtly, as if it was perfectly normal to travel with a rabbit in a box.  It was our normal.    

In retirement she discovered gardening, flower arranging, water aerobics, Tar Heel sports and the Carolina Panthers and was fervently passionate about all of them.  It was fun watching her bloom in this way as she finally had time for her own interests.

As a volunteer, if she joined a group, she eventually became its president.  From high school yearbook editor to President of the Community Health Association (now Care Ring), the Junior Woman’s Club, the Fairview Woman’s Club and the Coastal Garden Club.  Lifelong friendships were forged in the Junior Woman’s Club and her bridge club.  Junior’s became Fairview and then a dinner club.  The bridge club morphed into the glee/travel club.  Dinner and glee clubs met often until aging and illness prevented it.  Church was important, and she was active at both Myers Park Baptist and Seaside UMC.  

She is survived by her four children: Susan Aldrich (“Joe”), “Frank” Dancy (“Kathy”), Carol Walters (“Eddie”), Lewis Dancy (Michael Case); and seven grandchildren:  Rachael Jones (Justin Maruri), Hannah Frink (“Sam”), Kathryn Guo (David), Ehren Dancy (Tor Sauter), Susanna Dancy, Sarah Brooks (Sam) and Emily Walters; and four great grandchildren:  Mason, Charlotte, “Thea” and Alan.  She loved them all, and they love her.

She was a remarkable and powerful woman.  Frankly, it’s hard to fathom how she accomplished so much in her 85 years after starting her life with so little.  As with all things, she handled her decline and demise with grace, beauty and good humor.  Her move to Arbor Landing three years ago and to memory care last month were without complaint.  She was just filled with gratitude.  Her death came as Carol and Lewis held her hands during a brief hospital stay on January 27.  Her last word was in response to her doctor’s question about how she was doing.  “Good,” she said.  Good.

Services will be private due to the ongoing pandemic.  Janet the nurse would tell you to get vaccinated and get boosted.  

Memorial gifts welcome at the Coastal Land Trust:  www.coastallandtrust.org