The Following is this week’s I AM, YOU ARE, WE ARE Honoree by Ashton Greer and Nicole Van Hyfte:
Growing up in Tilton for Nancy Fields was always comfortable.Her and all her siblings still call Vermilion County home. They were all born and raised in Tilton and have always been involved in making the community a better place to be. Nancy is the oldest of 8 children, and to this day lives 3 blocks from where they were all born. They all attended the Tilton school and walked thereevery day, no matter the weather. “I can remember my dad and the neighbor lady would go to the big empty lot and play ball with us kids while mom sat out in the yard with the little ones,” she said as she reminisced. “Everyone knew everyone. Your parents always knew where you were and what you were doing. We were just being boys and girls growing up in a small town.”
Nancy and her husband moved to California when they were first married. “I came back (to Tilton) to visit in September of 1959, and my visit is still going on!” They have only been back to California to visit. After coming “home” they had three children who have all stayed in the Tilton area as well. Nancy lost her husband in 2002 and retired from District 118 after 34 years in food service in 2003.
Since retirement, Nancy has continued to be very active in the Tilton community. Nancy has played a vital role in the annual Senior Christmas Dinner. Because of the success of the dinner, who serves seniors who don’t have family during the holidays, she has started a Senior Picnic. This year will be the second annual picnic. She plays bunko with a group of ladies at the community center every Tuesday, works with Our Town, Tilton, is the secretary at the Tilton Historical Society, and started the TOPS charter (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) in 1974 which is still going today.
“Nancy works tirelessly to make Tilton a great community to live in,” says another Tilton community member.
Nancy also loves to get involved at Halloween time. She has made 300-400 costumes throughout her life and used to rent them out: A hobby that became a backyard business. Her children were always known for winning the Halloween costume contests and people would say, “might as well have known it was Nancy’s kids”. One year, she even went as far as to decorate all the light poles down 5th street for Halloween and invited the police and fire chief and the mayor to take pictures with her.
At the young age of 83, Nancy still does as much as she can, wherever she can to help her community and the Village of Tilton. Thank you, Nancy for calling Vermilion County your home and for all the work you put into this incredible place.
If you have someone you would like to share,
visit https://forms.gle/deCPiQ1cxn1pDLhZ9
or contact Ashton Greer, City of Danville agreer@cityofdanville.org or
Nicole Van Hyfte, Vermilion Advantage nvanhyfte@vermilionadvantage.com.
