Nancy Laing

Nancy Laing

• Nancy Laing was born on 31 March 1928.
• Nancy Laing died on 29 September 2004 at age 76.
• She was interred at Grace Episcopal Churchyard, Yorktown, York County, Virginia.
• The following appeared on 2 October 2004 in the Newport News Daily Press: Nancy Laing Cole Laurier, a co-founder of The Watermen's Museum and a leader in the arts community of Yorktown, died Wednesday. She was 76.
       "I considered her the backbone of the museum," said John Hanna, president of the Board of Directors for The Watermen's Museum.
       She served on the museum's board from its beginning and chaired the Exhibits Committee. Until the museum lost its pier to Hurricane Isabel last year, she helped run the Watermen's Heritage Day, an event that featured races among working boats.
       She was a charter board member and twice served as chairman of the Yorktown Arts Foundation, begun in 1976.
       She was also one of a group of founders of the artists' cooperative "On the Hill." The arts center, which started in 1976, was a place where member artists demonstrated and sold their work. It is now known as the Gallery on the York.
       Her inspiration for the artists' cooperative was the Torpedo Factory of Alexandria, created in 1974 from a World War I munitions plant by a group of artists to demonstrate and sell their wares. Mrs. Laurier was seeking such a venue for her children and other aspiring artists in York County.
       "She was very much into promoting young artists," said Sharon Owen, manager of the Gallery at York Hall.
       Early in her career, she directed children and teenagers in plays presented to visitors of Colonial Williamsburg. She told the Daily Press in 1977 that she considered creative drama as "practicing the art of living."
       A native of Chicago, she was influenced as a child by Winifred Ward, a leader of children's theater in the Midwest. After moving to Newport News in 1963, she began to direct a popular children's production of "St. George and the Dragon" for Christmas visitors to CW.
       For the 1976 Bicentennial, she organized a teenage repertory company for visitors to CW. The group practiced for five weeks on a play she fashioned from a combination of an 18th-century folk tale and "Bottom's Dream" from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Unfortunately, smaller than expected Bicentennial crowds forced the cancellation of the play after two weeks. Unfazed, she got the group booked into the Bruton Parish House to finish the season.
       Mrs. Laurier was an actor, board member and director for The Williamsburg Players. She had played the mother in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" and directed the musical comedy "The Boy Friend."
       The Board of Supervisors appointed her in 1974 as the Bruton District representative for the York County Bicentennial Commission.
       She is survived by her husband, Maurice J. Laurier; two sons, Kirk Flynn and wife, Ginger, of Williamsburg, Russell Cole and wife, Tracy, of Philadelphia, Pa; stepson, David Laurier and wife, Lisa, of Gloucester; daughter, Michaelle Allen and husband, Bill, of Williamsburg; stepdaughter, Karen Morisato of Chantilly; five grandchildren, Reilly, Keely, Jessee, Jayme and Casey; and two stepgrandchildren, Allison and Garrett.
       A memorial service will be held 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, in Grace Episcopal Church with Rev. Carelton Bakkum officiating. Inurnment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends following the service.
       Memorial donations may be made to Grace Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 123, Yorktown, VA 23690 or The Watermen's Museum, P.O. Box 519, Yorktown, VA 23690.
       Amory Funeral Home, Grafton, is handling the arrangements.

• Last Edited: 21 Aug 2012