Nancy Staunton, 90

Nancy Staunton, 90, a former village trustee and constant presence in Oak Park civic life for more than 40 years, died on Nov. 24, 2019. Born Anna Jean O’Malley on Nov. 18, 1929, she was known as Nancy from an early age. Raised in Englewood, the youngest child of Irish immigrants, she attended St. Brendan’s church and Mercy High School. Her father died when she was a teen and her sister Sarah Margaret, who was 10 years older, played a big part in her upbringing. She remained close with Marg and her other siblings, Mary and John, all of whom have passed away. 

After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1951 from St. Xavier College, she took a nursing position at Mercy Hospital. She also worked as a part-time courier nurse for the Santa Fe Railroad on trips between Chicago and Los Angeles. 

Mercy Hospital is where she met her husband of 56 years, Patrick Staunton, who had arrived from Dublin as a new physician in 1952. They married in 1957 and had their first child in 1958. Less than five years, and five more children, later, they moved to Oak Park, to a yellow stucco house on Linden Avenue, where they lived for the next 28 years. 

In 1967, with her oldest in third grade and her youngest about to start school, she joined the League of Women Voters and spent more than 30 years with the League, working on a number of issues, including the Board of Health Committee, the Racial Diversity Task Force, the Village Services Committee, a committee that performed an extensive study of Cook County Government, and several stints as the editor of the League’s bulletin. In 2007, she was recognized for her contributions with the Hazel Hansen Award. 

Later she returned to school, earning a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1976. That led to work in health care planning, primarily with the Chicago Suburban Health Services Agency. 

In 1985, she was elected Oak Park village trustee. During a busy six years on the village board, she faced a number of complex issues relating to, among other things, gun control, recognition of AIDS, policies on non-discrimination, recycling, economic development, union/management disputes, and an investigation of the police department conducted by author and lawyer Scott Turow. During her first term, she voted against the re-streeting of Oak Park’s downtown, a position that put her at odds with the local newspapers, and they opposed her election in 1989. She lost on the mall issue, but easily won re-election. 

She served on the Institutional Review Board of Loyola University Medical Center, and the boards of the Housing Center and Family Service and Mental Health Center. She also served on the Oak Park Board of Health and helped start and staff, with others of like interest, a hospice group for the Community Nursing Service in Oak Park. She volunteered at a variety of local organizations, including the Hemingway Birthplace Home and Museum.

After Nancy and Pat retired, they spent more and more time at their cottage in Coloma, Michigan. Nancy spent her last three years living in Walnut Creek, California, with her daughters Mary and Anne. 

Nancy is survived by her children Kevin (Maria), Mary, Anne, Brian (Liz), Jane (Max), and Tom, and her grandchildren, Jack, Kyle, Luke, Will, Van, Kevin, and Finn. 

Services are set for Saturday, Dec. 28, at 11 a.m. at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy, 38 N. Austin Blvd., Oak Park. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to St. Catherine-St. Lucy School (online at https://www.givecentral.org/location/364/event/11764 or by check to the school at 27 Washington Blvd. in Oak Park) or your preferred local hospice.