These poems are part of a collection written by Nancy Martin Ivey, mostly in 1968 and in 1971, around the time of the birth of our fourth child, our first born in Alaska. Nancy began writing poetry in high school. I recall one particular poem of hers that compared our time with God's time: (paraphrased) "And then one day when our bodies die, we'll find our lives have been a blink of His eye." Nancy was enthralled by beauty, particularly that of Alaska; nature; and music, especially that of our four sons. She was very disturbed by racial prejudice and greatly grieved for Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was assassinated. Her poems about our romance and courting are very hard for me to read; the two best of these end this book. She was inspired by her great love for Jesus, her five children, her grandchildren, her passionate love of Alaska and its raw beauty, our give-give relationship, her very major activities in the United Protestant Church in Palmer and in Women's Aglow Fellowship there, and her empathy and compassion for others. She also drew from our Alaskan life and family activities. We joined in the atmosphere of last frontier, living largely on moose, salmon, the vegetables we grew, and on the berries we picked. I learned to fly; she loved to go up with me. Nancy practically swooned in hearing our sons sing, and she took two of them to Anchorage Youth Symphony regularly. She also traveled there for our second son's piano lessons. I used to kid Nancy and tell her she was the greatest woman who ever lived except for my heroine, Joan of Arc. As you will see in "The Father and Joan," with which I begin this booklet, I fantasized that Nancy was her reincarnation. I do not believe in such, but I do not know why God might not have done it one time. "Alone," "Our Being," "When 'me' turns to 'we, '" "One," and "Shall We All Fall Down" all speak of our love and oneness, and the fifth of these reflects her sympathy with me and my fear that the whole world might be paved. The poem, "Lifted," apparently refers to God. "For Our Bread," "Wisconsin," and "Aurora" reflect her love for the beauty of nature. (Aurora, "Rori," daughter of Sam and Eowyn of Alaska, is the only grandchild, other than her second great grandchild, Miles, is the only grandchild she never saw.) "From the Valley," "Just a Snow 'Flittery' Day," "Old Timer," and "Praise God for His Shepherds," are poems about the beauty of Alaska that I can imagine her writing while looking out the window of our home. "Old Timer" and "Praise God for His Shepherds" were written with the Reverend Frank Walkup in mind. Frank served a church in Anchorage for a time, then went to Clermont, Florida, as the pastor of the church Nancy and I attended there. He was a long-time man of God. With "Love," "Good Night, Little Love," "Dan," and "Christy," she sang twice of our daughter, then of our youngest son, and finally of our oldest grandchild, her "present." In "For All my Babes" she muses about all of them. "A Mother's Reflection tells us of what she thought it would be like if one of her sons went to war. "Pain," "Peace," and "Free" presage the misery she was to experience many years later, and the final two poems are the hardest of all for me to read, reflecting as they do our dating and, later, our early marriage.
About the Author: (Nancy's biography begins in her book description.) Nancy was extremely active in the Presbyterian Church U.S. She was a majorette in junior high school and, at Boone High School, she was heavily into drama, a class officer, and highly popular with her joyful and outgoing personality. She was elected (student) Moderator (essentially President) of the Florida Synod of the Presbyterian Church U.S. We began to date at Boone and, before long, we were in love. We fished a lot at Mosquito Lagoon, for speckled trout and redfish. I went off to college in 1956 and she graduated the following year. She went to Maryville College, Tennessee, with no financial support at all except for loans and her working. She majored in history and was a civil rights activist. We were married after her 1961 graduation. In 1969, we drove the Alaska Highway and moved to Alaska. We loved the people, and Nancy made many wonderful friends. We added two more sons to our two sons and a daughter. I started a family medical practice and learned to fly. Nancy loved to go up with me. She went to China in 1986 with my mother, and we went to Singapore in 1988 for our oldest son's wedding. We left Alaska at my behest in 1991. It had become apparent that four of our five children would be living in the eastern United States, and I was tiring of the winters. We landed in Lakeland, Florida, and, after five years, left there for Trenton. I continued with my family medicine. We went to Rome in 1998. In 1986, Nancy had suffered a severe slipped disc; not long afterward, we found out she had rheumatoid arthritis. She suffered severe pain with these two afflictions and gradually became more and more crippled. In 2001, we moved to Gainesville to be close to our daughter, specialists, and the hospital. By 2004, we had eleven grandchildren and one great granddaughter, including her "present," Christy, born on her birthday and her "heart," Jolie. In 2004, our son, Daniel, came from Boston for a visit. At the same time, all of Nancy's family of origin, except for sister Pam, who had died, came to Gainesville for a reunion. There was no hint of what was to come, but, on July 11, Nancy was hospitalized, and it soon became apparent that she would not likely survive. All of our children came to her bedside and were there until she died, a saint, on July 18. She was hugged, sung to, prayed for, and repeatedly told how loved she was. She told us three times that she had no fear.