Nancy Mudrick (née Weigand) passed away peacefully at Riddle Memorial Hospital on April 4. She was 90.

Nancy was always a warrior, so one might not have thought it a long shot that she would bounce back from her recent heart attack — as she had done after several other health challenges in recent years. Her final wish to donate her body to scientific research will ensure that she continues to have an impact on the lives of others.

Nancy was born and grew up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. She met her husband, Bob, on Boathouse Row. Bob introduced her to rowing by taking her out in a double scull. A natural, she soon became a world-champion singles rower. Although it was not until 1976 — decades after Nancy’s racing years were over — that women’s rowing events were added to the Olympics, she occasionally managed to steal the spotlight even from well-known Olympic rowing champions like John B. Kelly Jr. (whose father was another Olympic champion, for whom Kelly Drive, along the Schuylkill River, is named).

Nancy’s rowing accomplishments are memorialized in numerous articles, as well as at her beloved Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club, where she had been a member since 1951. She was an officer of the club, and served it in various other capacities, for example devoting time to the upkeep of the historic landmark, Boathouse Row. The club named a boat after her, and houses numerous plaques and trophies bearing witness to what she accomplished as one of their representatives.

United in their love of rowing, Nancy and Bob were fixtures in the rowing community. Nancy only stopped rowing at the age of 87. Those who know the rowing community will be aware that many participants continue to row at an advanced age. When Nancy talked about such fellow rowers, she described them as “the old people” — excluding herself.

Nancy and Bob wed in 1956 and moved from Philadelphia to Swarthmore shortly thereafter, starting a new chapter in their lives. In 1957, she gave birth to their first son. Three more children would be added to the family over the next few years.

In Swarthmore, Nancy established her well-known, expansive garden at her home at the corner of Rutgers and Harvard avenues. (In 2018, after she left that home, she started a new, equally large garden on Park Avenue.) She also got involved with the community as a volunteer for numerous organizations. She was particularly proud of being involved in the formation of the Swarthmore Community Center in 1976. The center, which closed last year, hosted countless groups and functions over the decades, and, for a time, it housed a bowling alley and a swimming pool.

After retiring from her job as a math and reading resource teacher at Elwyn, an internationally recognized nonprofit human services provider, Nancy became civically engaged in Cape May, New Jersey. There, she renovated a formerly condemned house, got trees planted along Lafayette Street from the elementary school to the Acme, and kept tabs on the environmental cleanup of some contaminated land nearby.

Nancy is survived by her husband Bob, her sister, four children, two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

She will be remembered for her gardening, her love of extreme home makeovers (before it became a reality TV show topic), her community service, and her constant desire to make those around her happy.

In lieu of flowers, her family has requested that donations be made to Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club. Donations can be made at their website, using Paypal, or by a check made payable to Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club and mailed to the club at 14 Kelly Drive, Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, PA 19130.