Nancy Skinner Nordhoff

November 3, 1932 – January 7, 2026

11.03.1932  / Seattle, Wa.    ~~~    01.07.2026  /  Whidbey Island, Wa.

Nancy Skinner Nordhoff, youngest of three children of Winifred Swalwell Skinner and Gilbert Whittemore Skinner, was born into a northwest philanthropic family and raised in Seattle, Wa. She followed the anticipated path of private schools, college, civic duty, marriage. She attended Laurelhurst Elementary School and earned her high school diploma at St. Nicholas School on Capitol Hill, where she was president of the Athletic Association. Her time at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts provided time away from home and family to discover more of herself and identify the values that guided her life. The brain that liked figuring out how to work with a team of women and have them play to their strongest positions, learned the practice of teamwork and collaboration. This became a pivotal point in the fundraising conversations around not-for-profits. President of the Junior League of Seattle (1971-72), the Pacific Northwest Grantmakers Forum (established in 1976), and CityClub (co-founded in 1980).  Nancy received numerous significant awards during her lifetime. Being recognized in 2006 by the National Women’s History Project with the Builder of Communities and Dreams award, in 2006 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals with the Outstanding Philanthropist award, and in 2009 by the Seattle Storm with the Inspiring Women award. For a number of years, CityClub recognized a Seattle-area citizen with the annual Nancy Nordhoff Civic Leadership Award. The members of CityClub called themselves the Old Girls. OG’s met for regular morning coffees and traveled together annually for many years.

She married Arthur Nordhoff, had three children (Charles Nordhoff, Grace Nordhoff, Carolyn Reid) and was active in the community while her volunteering, learning and mentoring continued. They built a small cabin on Blakely Island and Nancy spent summers there with the children, while Arthur commuted by plane. Learning to fly a single engine Piper Tripacer allowed her to fly in a tri-city race and barnstorm across country once fundraising for Mount Holyoke!

In her 50’s she divorced Arthur when the children were out in the world. She bought a van with 2 captain’s seats, a Coleman stove, sleeping bag, a box for wine, corkscrew and 2 glasses.  Nancy took to the road, driving aimlessly as she pondered the question… “what if I could?    Or what would I do if ..?

She visited family on Whidbey Island. When she bought 30 acres, she had thought it would be her home. Quickly she realized it was bigger than that. Walking the land, sitting to listen, to see, to hear …. Hedgebrook was seeded. She hired a local to build a bridge over a stream that was not there and kept on going!  A natural community builder, she found fertile ground on Whidbey. A place for a community of writers to be cared for while creating. She realized the deep value of time spent outdoors, outside of ordinary time and nurturing women as they did their work, fed with home grown, prepared farm food, became the bedrock of Hedgebrook.Come here and nestle for a moment in a cottage in the woods. Think, feel, smell, listen, see, eat and drink … meet solitude and renew; meet companions on the path and have new conversations, new views.  With her love of lands, views, gardening, supporting and liberating women’s voices, Hedgebrook took shape. Nurtured with care for decades, Hedgebrook’s message of Radical Hospitality is known around the world. It is her gift to the world. It is also a seed that migrated, reseeding…

She met her future partner and spouse, letterpress printer and artist Lynn Hays, on Whidbey when she engaged Rockfish Press for the design and printed materials. Their conversations finished the Hedgebrook job and never ended. This intersection changed courses for them both. A fruitful time to be able to collaborate with other islanders and far beyond. While continuing relationships with organizations and people across the world, they investigated the island communities. Supporting those people and organizations making changes from sea to farm, from housing to creativity, supporting peace work … theirs was a thriving partnership. Community building by responding to needs. Affordable housing and giving a leg up to small beginning businesses (co-founders of Goosefoot), seniors, women, children, farming, environment, art – it was all of interest to them. Good conversation over a meal or a cup or a glass was time well spent. A significant result of their partnership, Nordhoff and Hays built a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, Phagstok Gedun Chöling, on Whidbey and another, Tara Mandala, in the foothills of southern Colorado.  They supported building monasteries and temples in India and Tibet and hosting dharma teachers on Whidbey for all their years together.

Nancy engaged in conversations on fundraising and not-for-profits until the very end of her life and was equally enthusiastic about the Seattle Mariners. Who didn’t like going to a game with Nancy? Or a casino with penny slot machines and a meal? Chicken wings? Ribs? Laughter? By the end of her life, she was captivated by conversations around the Joy of Asking and the Joy of Giving!  She was grateful for landing on Whidbey with an interesting mix of islanders, new friends, new conversations, new projects, collaborating! Her deep connection to the land sustained her and offered the beauty of nature and small island towns as the setting for contemplation. Wandering their garden trails, time by the fire and gazing out the windows allowed for rejuvenation … to being able to do it all over again tomorrow. 

Nancy passed away peacefully at her home in Langley, on Whidbey Island, on January 7, 2026, surrounded by family and attended by their cherished Lama, Dza Kilung Rinpoche. She was aware and unafraid. She is survived by her children, Chuck Nordhoff (Maribeth O’Connor), Grace Nordhoff (Jonathan Beard) and Carolyn Reid (Kevin Reid); seven grandchildren (Emily Nordhoff, Freddie Nordhoff, Ruth Nordhoff, Jaquelin Nordhoff, Josephine Nordhoff-Beard, Adam Reid and Natalie Reid) and great-granddaughter (Ellie Nordhoff) and by her beloved wife, Lynn Hays, stepdaughter Tessa Hays-Nordin, and their grandson Valadon Hays-Nordin.

…She is currently becoming mulch (!) at Recompose in Seattle. In the spring she will be returning to their island home … as mulch!

Nancy … The gift that keeps on giving …

Donations in her honor would be joyfully accepted by Hedgebrook, Whidbey Island, Wa & Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts.