Nancy A. Megal

Nancy Barwick Megal (“Nana” “Fancy Nancy”) passed to new life on July 28, 2023, after a beautiful 91 years on earth.  She was born on November 29th, 1931, to Bertha and Benedict Barwick in Milwaukee, WI.  She graduated from Riverside High School, 8th in a class of 280, and cherished her Fratney Street memories and lifelong friends. Her organizational skills were highly prized in the workplace and her career was spent as an executive secretary with Evinrude and Lindberg Heavy Duty in Milwaukee, as a civilian secretary with the USAF in El Paso and Biloxi, as a school secretary at Minocqua-Hazelhurst-Lake Tomahawk Grade School, and as an office manager at both Beloit Manhattan and Neenah Schools personnel department.  She met friends and enjoyed different aspects of each job, but her favorite was seeing the children come into her office at MHLT. 

Nancy was married to LeRoy Megal on May 5, 1951, at St Mary’s Czestochowa Catholic Church in Milwaukee, and they had a 44-year love story until he died in 1995.  She missed him so much and reminisced about their adventures as newlyweds while he was in the Air Force, as young parents in Wauwatosa and then when he finally talked her into moving to Wisconsin’s Northwoods. There, along with their friends, Dick and Dolores Muth, they owned Northern Sales and Service on Hwy 51 and raised their daughters Sharon and Susan on the southernmost bay of gorgeous Lake Minocqua.  Later they moved to the Fox Valley to stay close to their grown daughters.  Nancy and Lee met friends wherever they went.  After his death she continued to meet new friends while always staying in close contact with their old ones.  We have been told by many that if you knew her, you couldn’t help but love her!  Her grandchildren’s friends also called her Nana - and still do. 

Nancy taught her faith by example and words and lived her faith by attending daily Mass and sharing her time and talents.  She taught religious education, was a Girl Scout leader, and was on the hospital auxiliary for Howard Young Medical Center while living in Minocqua.  She served on the church building committee for SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hortonville, helped start the blanket ministry, was a BeFriender to parishioners in need, and visited residents at St. Joseph’s in New London.  At Most Blessed Sacrament Parish in Oshkosh she helped start their blanket ministry and made priest vestments. Her favorite activity was helping with her grandchildren.  She attended their many baseball, basketball, football games and wrestling meets. There was never a gymnastics meet, ice skating performance, band or show choir performance that she missed!  In her later years, she even attended her great-grandchildren’s games. She had an incredible sense of humor, and her grandchildren often quote her “Nana-isms”!  Some of her most cherished times were with her family on vacations back to the Northwoods.  She did this 28 times until this past year when her dementia advanced too far. 

Nancy loved to write letters and send cards.  She was a voracious reader and talented seamstress. She was always planning her next trip and went with Lee to places within the continental US, and after he died, she picked herself up and went even farther!  She went to Alaska, Hawaii, Rome, Mexico, Nicaragua and her beloved Poland, walking in the footsteps of Pope St. John Paul II.  Her love of Our Lady took her to Medjugorje, Bosnia/Hercegovina five times and she would ask complete strangers if they had ever heard of the place and launch into a detailed explanation of why they should go! 

Missing her already are her daughters Sharon (Dan) Nejedlo of Hortonville, and Susan Bratsch of Appleton, grandchildren Robert (Jessica) Nejedlo, Joseph (Nadir) Nejedlo, Julia Nejedlo, AJ Bratsch (special friend Mellanie Marhefke) Benjamin Bratsch and Leah Bratsch, great-grandchildren Dominic, Clare and Caleb Nejedlo, sisters-in-law Geraldine Barwick of Stroudsburg, PA, and Pauline Maggelet of Sussex, WI, along with 13 cherished nieces and nephews and many cousins. 

We believe Nancy was reunited in heaven with her husband and two baby daughters, Mary and Susan, as well as two pre-born children.  She was also preceded in death by her parents, her dear brothers Richard Barwick, LeRoy Barwick and John Maggelet, sisters-in-law Bernadette Barwick and Leona Olson, nephew Rick Barwick and son-in-law Mark Bratsch. 

The family wishes to thank the outstanding caregivers of Living Tree Estates in Greenville, WI and Moments Hospice for their care and love for “Fancy Nancy”.  We could not have asked for more!  

Nancy’s funeral liturgy will be held at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, 107 N. Olk Street in Hortonville on Monday, August 7 at 11:00 am. Visitation will be at church from 9:00 am until Mass begins.  

In lieu of flowers, memorials are deeply appreciated for SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church.