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Nancy Minard uses editorials to continue conversations

Nancy Minard brought skills from more than 20 years working as a reference librarian in Montclair and Verona, N.J., to editing, and writing articles and editorials for The Fig Tree after she and her husband, Jim, retired and came to Spokane in 1998.

Soon after she started attending Veradale United Church of Christ, the pastor encouraged her to be involved with the Spokane Council of Ecumenical Ministries.  She was there during a time of transition, choosing to be involved with The Fig Tree and serve on its board in 2001.

From childhood in northern New York, she moved with her family to Hanford, the Olympic Peninsula and Renton.  She completed her bachelor’s degree in journalism and education in 1958 at Whitworth College and taught two years in Bellevue, before marrying Jim, whom she met at Whitworth.  His graduate studies and post-doctoral sleep research, took them to Colorado, Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

Jim grew up in Spokane.  Both of their mothers were in Spokane. They came to help care for them.

At Veradale UCC, Nancy regularly helped in the office.  She taught basket-making during summers at N-Sid-Sen, the UCC camp on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

She delivered The Fig Tree to churches in Newport when visiting her mother in a care facility.

In 2012, Nancy and Jim moved to Portland to live near two of their grandchildren, but she still helps edit and writes editorials.

“The Fig Tree’s approach is refreshing.  It’s not about getting saved and living happily ever after, but about what people do because of their faith,” said Nancy.  “People come up with ingenious ways to be of service.”

She also values the friendships from The Fig Tree, appreciating interacting with Sr. Bernadine Casey, SNJM, while editing and being with her as she lived into her final moments of life.  She helped edit the May issue weeks before her death in 2007.

“I write editorials from books I read or conversations as a way to continue the conversations,” said Nancy, who also appreciates covering nonprofits, which now are taking responsibility for “some of the country’s biggest problems as more is being dumped on them.

“You have to have faith to work for nonprofits, even if it’s not overt faith,” she said.  “Stories of faith in action are often about volunteer service with nonprofits.





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