Remembering Nancy Clukies

“We lost one of the great ones.” That’s how 's Head of School, Mark Anderson put it to his community when he announced that Nancy Clukies, a beloved teacher at the school, had passed away February 4 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

Clukies, who first began teaching at Whitfield in 1996, spent more than a decade teaching English and Social Studies at the middle school and high school levels there, around a brief stint teaching in Clayton. Her friends say what made Clukies stand out was her ability to connect with everyone around her. Emily Chrysler came to Whitfield at roughly the same time and worked with many of the same students. A bond quickly formed with Clukies. “She made a huge impact on the people that she knew,” Chrysler said. “She was able to reach every single student, have a personal connection with each one of them that some teachers never make with even a single student.“

An email sent to school administrators and forwarded with permission to Creve Coeur Patch gives you a sense. Here’s Shaun Vaid, now a student at George Washington University, in his own words:

“’All quiet on the Western front’ she would quote, when we were over-energized. ‘Be safe and buckle up’ she would say as we left through the door, her words still echoing fresh in my mind. Her smile was brighter than the yellow bug she drove, her encouragement inspired me beyond description, and her ability to relate to every single one of her students made her much more than a teacher. It is unfortunate that she will never hear me say my thanks or see the grief that devastates my heart, but her short presence in my life is truly a blessing.”’

   That ability to connect extended to animals. Anderson said Rascal, the school dog who spends time in classrooms during the day and goes home with the principal at night, would go wild whenever he saw Clukies, the dog’s favorite person.

   Chrysler said Clukies was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in July 2009, and hoped to return to Whitfield for the January 2010 semester, but surgery and several aggressive rounds of chemotherapy were not enough to put the cancer into remission. Her absence from the classroom hasn’t stopped those who knew her from remembering a woman devoted to her children and grandchildren, and her students.

“As hard as it is to say goodbye to her, I know I’m a better person because I knew her and I know there are lot of people who feel the same way,” Chrysler said.

“This isn’t about losing a teacher or a colleague, this is a member of our family and I think that’s what’s the feeling in my school right now, there’s one of us missing. There’s a hole in our heart and there’s no fix for that,” said Anderson.

Her former student Shaun Vaid may have put it best. “The newspaper will say that she worked as a teacher. Her students will say how much she meant to them outside of the classroom. She was exciting. She was warm. She was influential. She was both an educator and a friend. She was Mrs. Clukies.”

Visitation is Friday at Kutis South County Chapel, from 4 p.m.-9 p.m. A memorial Service will be held Saturday, Feb. 12 at 11:30 a.m. at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Oakville. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Humane Society of Missouri or the St. Louis Ovarian Cancer Awareness.