Nancy Louise Arthur (Currey) Gill

Nancy Louise Arthur Gill (nee Currey) of Steelville, Missouri was born August 17, 1921 in Evanston, Illinois to Samuel George and Agnes Engdahl Currey and passed away Friday, December 14, 2018 at the age of 97 years.

   Nancy was an avid reader and pianist. She graduated from Evanston Township High School. She later attended Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. It is here that she met her first husband, Thomas G. Arthur, whom she married on December 19, 1942.

   War Bride Nancy waited while Tom, a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, flew B-24’s during World War II. Based in North Africa and Italy, he flew 50 combat missions as a navigator with the 781st Bomb Squadron. After the war, Tom and Nancy settled down to raise a family of four. Tom was a cartoonist and artist but to support the family, his career was in food service. He created the famous Dodger Dog, a hot dog that was grilled to perfection and sold to thousands on game days at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Nancy made homemaking her career.

   She was a member of the Mother’s Clubs of Berkeley Hall School in Los Angeles and of The Principia School in St. Louis, Missouri. She also became a member of P.E.O. Tom and Nancy were married for 26 years.

   Later in life, she married Eldon E Gill on November 21, 1970,  another WWII aviator and a real estate developer from Southern California. Eldon and Nancy spent 28 years living in various parts of California. Nancy was fondly known as Mama Duck as she would cluck about her family giving attention to her brood. After Eldon’s passing and 54 years of living in California, Nancy drove Rt. 66 back to St. Louis to join her daughter’s family to help raise the Arthur/Semnacher grandchildren. Several years later, her former husband, Thomas G. Arthur, also left California and moved to the St. Louis area to be close to his grandson, Jess Semnacher, who was his caregiver. Nancy and Tom ended up enjoying a year and a half of being good friends and supporting their grandkids together before Tom passed away.

   When a young girl, Nancy was a member of the Christian Science Sunday School in Evanston, Illinois. After she was married, she was a member of various California Christian Science Branch churches located in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Woodland Hills, Palm Desert and Solvang. When an opportunity came for Nancy to work as an assistant kindergarten teacher at Nishimachi International School in Tokyo, Japan,  Nancy became a member of the Christian Science branch church in Tokyo. When Nancy returned to the Midwest to join her daughter’s family, she joined the Town and Country Christian Science branch church in St. Louis, Missouri.

   Presently, she was a member of the Christian Science Society of Crawford County in Cuba, Missouri. Throughout her years of church service, Nancy loved studying the Bible and served in the capacity as a Second Reader and Sunday School teacher.

   Nancy’s loved ones who have passed away before are her parents, Sam and Agnes Currey; in-laws, Harry C. Arthur Jr. and Marie McGuire Arthur; husbands, Thomas G. Arthur and Eldon E. Gill; brother, Samuel George Currey, Jr; younger sister, Elizabeth Ann Currey; sister-in-law, Laura Lou Hesser Arthur; brother-in-law, Harry C. Arthur III; brother-in-law, Richard Charles Arthur; and two best friends, Phyllis Opie Brooks and Mabel Corbett Moore.

   She is lovingly remembered by her daughter, Barbara E. Arthur of Steelville, Missouri; her three sons, Greg Arthur and his family of Sebastopol, California, Terry D. Arthur and his family of Beverly Hills, California, and Steven C. Arthur and his family of Newport Beach, California; sister, Barbara Factor of Santa Barbara, California; sister-in-law, Janice Littel Currey and her family of Malibu, California and Rosemary St. John Arthur Carl and her family of Calfornia; son-in-law, David G. Semnacher of Alton, Illinois; her grandson’s father, Jeffrey J. Barnoski of Steelville, MO; stepson, Gregory R. Gill and his family of Long Beach, California; 17 grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren; other relatives and friends.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date in Malibu, California.

The Family was served by the Britton-Bennett Funeral Home of Steelville, MO.

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