Nancy Crist, an anchor for many with style and substance, dies at 91

Nancy Crist, who balanced motherhood and civic engagement, nurture and orderliness to raise an active family with a surplus of joy, died peacefully Monday, at home, in her sleep. She was 91.

She planned meticulously, checklist in hand. Christmas came with tasteful decorations and a turkey dinner; an outing in the boat required bologna sandwiches. She sent birthday cards to all her friends and even the friends of her children, but her thank-you notes ranked most important of all. She raised four children with Emily Post’s “blue book” handy because it was important to teach the kids etiquette.

She served dinner at 5 p.m. Even her husband, physician Charlie Crist, made it most days since the time coincided with his office hours 15 minutes away. She told her kids never to get too big for their britches, even when her son, Charlie, became Governor of Florida.

In all things she kept a sure hand; the same woman who played classical piano once felled an elk with a single shot from hundreds of yards away. She taught her children to live balanced lives, to work hard, and look for the best in others.

She was an attentive listener with bright blue eyes and an effortless charm; she saw the humorous side of things and laughed easily. That spirit of positive perseverance guided the family through blessings and losses, including the death of her eldest child, Margaret Wood, due to cancer in 2015.

Nancy Virginia Lee Crist was born Sept. 30, 1934, in Altoona, Pa. At Penn State University she was the Maypole Queen – a shot of her posing in an ice blue strapless gown lives on – and met the love of her life, Charlie.

They married Feb. 19, 1954. He earned a master’s degree in biochemistry at Penn State; the couple in 1956 moved to Atlanta so that he could study at Emory University School of Medicine.

The couple visited St. Petersburg, then fell in love with the water and the people and the pace; they moved here in 1960. Their instincts merged in harmonious ways, what their children describe as a yin-and-yang relationship.

“She was amazing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Hyden Poore, a daughter. “Dad comes across as gregarious when you look at him, strong and robust. But in the quiet of our family he would say, ‘You know, your mother is the strong one here.’ She was intelligent, a great listener, just present and dependable.”

The kids all had chores, inside and out; you had to do them but then it was over. Their mother enjoyed sweets as much as they did; an entire drawer in the kitchen held candy; with cookies in another drawer. Bike rides were to be enjoyed together, but so were cocktails in moderation. The family could work together and celebrate together.

Sometimes they gathered around the piano in the living room singing folk songs while their mother played; Dr. Crist accompanied on the banjo.

Mrs. Crist worked just as hard in the community and was active in the Junior League. She outlived her two younger sisters, Harriet and Marianne. The last several years were physically challenging with a couple of strokes that left her in a wheelchair. She could still converse and never forgot to smile when her husband sat across from her at the dinner table, and blow him a kiss.

“She maintained a positive spirit, she was very upbeat to the end,” Charlie Crist said. “She was almost miraculous, really, a wonderful mother and wife. An amazingly graceful woman.”

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Nancy Virginia Lee Crist

Born: Sept. 30, 1934

Died: Feb. 23, 2026

Survivors: Predeceased by her daughter, Margaret Wood. She is survived by her husband, Charlie Crist, M.D.; son, Charlie Crist; daughters Catherine Kennedy and her husband, Byron Leit Kennedy III; and Elizabeth Hyden Poore, M.D., and her husband, Tedd Thomas Poore; son-in-law, Emory Wood; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Memorial Service: 11 a.m. Feb. 28; First United Methodist Church, 212 Third St. N, St. Petersburg.