Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

December 26, 2024

CHARLOTTE – Nancy Ann Eckert (née Muenchow) passed away after a brief illness on December 26, 2024 at the age of 92.  Nancy was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 1, 1932, the daughter of Ervin Gustave and Johanna Katherine Muenchow (née Mett). Her two older siblings, LaVerne Meikle and Earl Muenchow, predeceased her.

Nancy had very fond memories of her childhood in Milwaukee, despite the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II. She loved recalling festive evenings when the family dining room was cleared of furniture and candle wax shaved onto the floor where friends and family came to dance to music played by her father and his friends. Following graduation from high school, she secured a secretarial position at Schlitz Brewery and, at age 19, after having traveled to visit her sister in Carmel Valley, California, decided to relocate to the Golden State permanently. She moved to Carmel Valley the following year and began to work as secretary to the president of a bank. A couple of years later, she and her sister moved to Woodland, California, where Nancy secured a job as secretary to the Chairman of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis. Before long, friends arranged for her to meet a handsome PhD candidate named Joseph Webster Eckert and they fell in love. The couple married in Davis on January 19, 1957 and, not long after, moved to Riverside, California where he began his 44-year long career as professor of Plant Pathology at UC Riverside and they started a family. Nancy’s enthusiasm was dedicated to raising their three children, volunteering in the community, playing tennis, managing their large garden and small grove of orange, lemon, avocado, grapefruit and other trees and generally maintaining order in the kingdom while Joe’s professional engagements took him all over the world. She was a fabulous cook and international colleagues of his were frequent guests at the family dinner table where Nancy welcomed them with a warm and casual elegance defined by California cuisine and engaging conversation. Nancy often described this period as “the happiest time of my life.” Before long, the Eckerts were traveling as a family throughout the US, Mexico, Europe and beyond and Nancy kept the caravan bound together behind Joe’s whirlwind. They moved to the Netherlands for a year and their children attended Dutch schools while she established a solid foundation for them during this remarkable time of change. Nancy and Joe saw themselves as citizens of the world and they taught their children to think in global terms, embracing new experiences and different cultures. After returning from the Netherlands the family stayed grounded at their home in Riverside. When their children were grown, they continued to explore the world, often accompanied by their son, John. Their daughters moved to the east coast but frequently visited home base with their own families. Nancy and Joe relocated to Charlotte NC in 2018 to be closer to their daughters.

Nancy was predeceased by her husband and their son, John Robert Eckert. She is survived by her daughters, Patricia Eckert Boyer (John) of Charlotte; Pamela Eckert Scarafoni (Dean) of Manchester, MA and Marietta, SC; four grandsons, Ryan Douglas Boyer (Marni) of Beverly, MA; William Thomas Boyer of New Haven, CT; Daniel Joseph Scarafoni, of AZ; Benjamin Dean Scarafoni of Manchester, MA; and two great-grandsons, Graham Harry Boyer and Miles Joseph Boyer, both of Beverly, MA.

A graveside celebration of the life of Nancy Eckert will be held on February 18, 2025 at 1:00 pm at Olivewood Memorial Park in Riverside, California.

Memorial gifts may be made to Via Health Partners, Charlotte, NC or to the Humane Society of Charlotte.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28204 (704) 641-7606. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.