Nancy C. McGrath, 93

WHITEFIELD — Nancy Craig McGrath, 93, peacefully passed away after a brief illness on Nov. 24, 2025, at the Littleton Regional Healthcare Center surrounded by her family.

Nancy was born June 27, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, the only daughter of Harry and Ella May (Churchill) Craig Jr.

Nancy grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts, and graduated from the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, in 1951. As a young girl, she spent several summers with her relatives at the Craig family compound (farm) in Penacook, on the Contoocook River. 

Nancy attended the Museum of Fine Arts and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She sang professionally for nearly 20 years, singing solos in such places as the Camden Manor in Maine, the Cohasset Music Circus in Massachusetts, and the Portland Civic Symphony in Maine where she had a leading role in the musical "Porgy and Bess."

Throughout Nancy's amazing and talented life, she sang in various church choirs throughout New England and sang and acted in several theatrical plays and musicals. She also was the Bell Choir director at the Newtown Congregational Church, Newtown, Connecticut, in the late 1960s. Her music director in Rockland, Maine, once referred to her as the next Beverly Sills (famous opera singer of that time).

Prior to Nancy’s marriage, she pursued a secretarial career working at the John Hancock Building in Boston, Massachusetts. After marriage, she and her husband moved to Woburn, Massachusetts, to start raising their family. Other moves would include Lebanon, and Yalesville, Connecticut, eventually settling down in Sandy Hook/Newtown, Connecticut, with her five children. There was a short, three-years move to Rockland, Maine, but the family eventually returned to Newtown, Connecticut. Nancy continued with her secretarial career working for various doctors, lawyers, and the Pitney Bowes Corporation in Newtown, Connecticut. She would then pursue her heart’s desire of becoming a nurse after surviving cancer back in the mid 1970s. After receiving her nursing degree, she worked for Danbury Hospital in the Oncology Department and the Physicians for Women in Danbury, Connecticut. She also worked as a private duty nurse in the area.

After leaving the state of Connecticut, Nancy and her husband moved to Whitefield, where they owned property in town and on Dalton Mountain. She utilized her nursing skills to work with the elderly at the Country Village Nursing Home as well as the Morrison Nursing Home. Nancy eventually retired and moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, leaving the cold, bitter winters behind. While in North Carolina, Nancy decided to come out of retirement and work for the Pavillon Treatment Center in Mill Spring, North Carolina. This was a very meaningful position for her as she had lost one of her daughters to drug addiction in 2000. Nancy and her husband Pat cared for her daughter's only child immediately after her daughter’s passing. After retiring from Pavillon, her very last nursing job, she and her husband moved to Johnson City, Tennessee, to be with her daughter Beth and her family.

Upon the death of Nancy’s beloved husband Pat in 2018, she decided to move back to Whitefield, to live with her son James, where she lived out the remainder of her years. Nancy enjoyed being back in New Hampshire as she was able to visit all her New England folks and travel back and forth from Whitefield to the Lakes Region in Laconia.

Nancy was an accomplished artist, and she loved painting oil on canvas for family and friends. Once she did a painting of the Mount Washington Hotel and donated it to the hotel back in the early 1990s, and it still hangs there today. She loved reading, singing, writing books and poetry, telling good jokes, picnicking on Spindle Point, Gunstock Acres, Weirs Beach, and the occasional family deck party with cousins, dining out at restaurants (Hart’s ... a family favorite since the 1950s), boating, soap operas, and traveling abroad. She loved a good camping adventure, one of which took her across the country. Nancy enjoyed attending Rumney Old Home Day as her ancestors were some of the first settlers there. For Nancy, Rumney Old Home Day was a time for cousins and friends to gather underneath the large maple tree on the common to share the rich, family history and stories ... a place that cousins referred to as “Craig's Corner.” When Nancy’s father Harry was a young Rumney boy, he used to play in the Polar Caves long before they became an attraction.

Nancy loved attending church. She was a member of the Whitefield Christian Church, and she also enjoyed attending summer services at the Weirs Beach Methodist Church of Laconia, while at her son’s cottage. She thought the world of her church families and loved seeing them each Sunday. She attended various Bible study groups over the years, continuing to learn and grow in her Christian faith. She was a member of the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution), tracing her ancestors back to the Mayflower. During her earlier years, Nancy belonged to the Lake Winnipesaukee Water Ski Club, enjoyed downhill skiing (one being Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington), and loved the excitement of roller skating. Nancy was also a host for three years to Fresh Air Children from New York City, which was coordinated through the Newtown Congregational Church back in the late 1960s.

Nancy always felt blessed spending time with all her children. She would always say “I had five kids before I knew what caused it.” She admired and loved all her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her one great-great-grandchild. She also loved spending time with her baby kitty, Misty, still her baby at 11 years old.

Nancy’s parents built their Spindle Point summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Meredith, back in the mid 1940s. Every year, she ushered in a summer season of family fun, gatherings, and a huge pile of wet beach towels to take to the laundromat. There was always an abundance of love and laughter that echoed throughout Spindle Point on a hot summer day. Spindle Point neighbors became family (Pedersen/Malek), and next-door cousins became closer. The lakeside “Craig” family compound was a place where the fondest of memories were created, and fireflies fluttered.

Nancy became Mom to all her children’s friends and acquaintances, and there was never a dull moment. Nancy lived each day with purpose amongst her family and friends and all of God’s creations. She had a genuine love and desire to help others, and she did it effortlessly and with compassion. She prayed that all of God’s children would find salvation and everlasting life through His Son, Jesus Christ. Nancy’s memory will burn bright within all our hearts, and we were all blessed being a part of her wonderful journey through life. We give thanks to all those individuals who cared for, loved, and honored our Nancy.

May God rest her beautiful soul.

She is survived by a son, James Burghoff Jr.; daughters Christine Hoover Marsh and husband James, Elizabeth Hoover Miller and husband Jay, and Amy Burghoff Chamberlain and husband Jack; 13 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband, Charles McGrath, and daughter Cynthia Hoover.

There are no calling hours.

In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to your local food pantry or homeless shelter.

A celebration of life will be held in the spring at the Whitefield Christian Church in Whitefield, and another one in the summer at the Weirs Beach United Methodist Church in Laconia. The exact dates and times will be announced at a later date.

Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/ Emmons Funeral Home, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, visit wilkinsonbeane.com.