On Sept. 7, 2026, Nancy Nitchie of Edgartown passed away. She was 96, a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, teacher, and beloved friend — along with an avid berry picker, barefoot clam digger, gardener, quilter, monologist, do-gooder, singer, and repository of family lore.
Nancy M. Huntington Nitchie was born on Dec. 20, 1929, in Montclair, N.J., the oldest of four. Her parents, Fred and Mary Lee Huntington, met while teenagers in Chilmark, where both families spent summers on Quitsa Pond. Nancy grew up in Montclair, and stayed near Quitsa each summer as well. She attended Boston University and graduated from Newark State Teacher’s College. While teaching school in Maryland, she met her future husband, Hubbard Nitchie, who was stationed at the Naval Academy.
The couple settled in Annapolis, Md., and worked as schoolteachers while raising their three children. Nancy taught kindergarten and first grade for many years, and developed a rousing version of “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!”
The family spent summers on the Vineyard, where Nancy enjoyed taking part in family musicales with her beloved uncles Gale and Willie Huntington. Everyone sang along to old tunes, with Hub on banjo, Gale on fiddle, and Willie on guitar. In 1973, while living year-round in Chilmark, the couple began publishing the Banjo Newsletter, a monthly periodical devoted to the five-string banjo. As the magazine grew, Nancy took charge of circulation and answering the phone. The newsletter widened their circle of friends and musicians, and for many years circulated worldwide.
In 1992 her husband passed away, and Nancy gave the magazine to her two sons, Donald and Spencer. In 2007, Nancy moved to her house on Quitsa Pond — the one right on State Road with hydrangeas, roses, and daylilies. In recent years, she lived in Vineyard Haven, then Oak Bluffs, and finally Edgartown.
Nancy Nitchie is survived by her brother, Tom Huntington of Los Angeles, Calif.; and sister, Jane Huntington of Greenbelt, Md.; son Donald and wife Beth Parker of Chilmark, and their two sons Nigel Smith of Gardener, and Tucker Smith of West Tisbury; daughter Emily and husband William Meegan of Chilmark, and son Jake Meegan of Vineyard Haven, and daughter Delilah Meegan of Fairfield, Conn.; granddaughter Sofia Nitchie, of Madison, Wis., and great-grandson Silvio; and by the wife of her late son Spencer, Tara Boyle, of Baltimore, Md.
She is also survived by the many daffodils, azaleas, and daylilies she planted on her various properties on the Vineyard, or shared with other gardeners.
