Nancy Haller Young passed peacefully with her children at her side on March 8, 2017.  She had just turned sixty-nine.

Nancy was born in France March 5, 1948, the daughter of an American soldier who took advantage of the goodwill following France's liberation to marry a beautiful French woman.  The family moved back to the United States when Nancy was young and settled in Fort Smith, where Nancy and her older sister Marie and younger brother Tim were raised.

She graduated as the valedictorian of Fort Smith Northside and went on to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she got straight A's.  She enrolled as one of only ten women in her class at the University of Arkansas Medical School.  There she met Harold Haller, who would become her husband of almost twenty years and the father of her children, Karen and David.

After graduation, Harold and Nancy spent a year residency in Dallas and then in 1975 moved to Jasper, Arkansas, where Nancy called home for the rest of her life.  Karen was born in 1979, and David followed in 1981.  Nancy and Harold raised them on a farm just south of Jasper.  Their work as E.R. physicians allowed them an unusual amount of free time, which they spent living a wonderful country life:  huge garden, cows, goats, chickens, and eventually a fruit orchard, daily trips to the Buffalo all summer, and plenty of exploration of all of Newton County's beauty.

Nancy became a very active member of the community.  She knew everyone from doctoring, but branched out into all types of service.  She spent hours volunteering at the school.  Harold and she bought the land for Bradley Park and leased it to the city for a $1 a year.  She founded and helped run the Newton County Resource Council, which spearheaded all kinds of development work.  She helped start a summer youth program that continues to this day.  She founded a battered women's shelter.  She fought to keep the Buffalo pristine.  And she did countless acts of individual kindness for scores of people in Newton County.  Nancy did not want or seek recognition for the work she did.  She did it because she believed it was the right thing to do and because she had a big heart and cared deeply about others.

Nancy instilled her values in her two children, teaching them to work hard, not to care about material things, to treat everyone the same no matter their station, and to give of themselves.  She was an amazing mother.  Karen, before quitting to raise her family, worked for years serving the elderly in nursing homes.  David works in New Orleans prosecuting violent criminals.

Toward the end of her life, Nancy also got to enjoy the joys of being a grandparent to Jacob, Karen's boy, and Finley, David's girl.  She cherished her time with them, doting on them and squeezing their chubby bodies.  Nancy loved life and displayed an amazing amount of strength in fighting cancer.  Up until the end, the disease never broke her spirit.  She remained as she had always been, a loving, caring woman who was vivacious and full of grace.  She will be missed but lives on in the memories of those who loved her.

Funeral services will be held at Coffman Funeral Home in Jasper on March 18, 2017 at 2 pm, with a reception at the Jasper United Methodist Church to follow.  In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made in her name to the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance.

On-line condolences may be left at coffmanfh.com.