When Nancy Bagshaw was only a junior in high school, she spent a year living abroad with a host family in Brazil as part of a Rotary exchange program.
It was a bold and brave choice for a teenager, to leave the Riverhead home she shared with her parents and three older siblings, and take a leap of faith in a foreign country at such a young age. But in many ways it was indicative of Bagshaw’s personality, and where it would lead her later in life.
Bagshaw, who died suddenly on Monday, Oct. 23, at the age of 60, leaving both her family and the Bridgehampton community in shock and mourning, was never one to shy away from an adventure or an exciting opportunity, and perhaps more than anything, the opportunities she cherished most were those that afforded her the chance to connect with other people, of all ages, from all walks of life.
Whether it was forming a bond with the students she taught during her 17 years as a Spanish teacher in the Bridgehampton School District, chatting with fellow teachers at Bridgehampton and from nearby districts during the morning commute on the Long Island Rail Road, or making lifelong friends who came to feel more like family while living abroad, Bagshaw had a genuine enthusiasm for getting to know people, and leaving a lasting impression on them.
Bagshaw came from a family of teachers. Her father, Walter Stewart, was a longtime teacher and wrestling coach in the Riverhead School District, while her older brother, Jim Stewart, is a long-tenured teacher in East Hampton, and also coached the wrestling team and other sports there for many years. One of her two sisters, Emily Chizever, worked as an elementary school teacher in Riverhead. Her other sister, Elizabeth Thomas, lives in Florida. Her siblings all survive her, as does her mother, Betty Stewart.
Nancy’s husband, Dr. David Bagshaw, a chiropractor, said his wife was beloved by the Bridgehampton students. Because they did not have children of their own, and because of the small student population and tight-knit nature of the district, Bagshaw’s students felt more like her own family, he said.
“She loved kids, and she really strove to be an inspiration and a light,” he said. “‘Let yourself be a light’ was Nancy’s credo, and she was the light of my world for 31 years.”
Bagshaw said he realized the full scope of just how many lives his wife had touched, and how many people she had positively impacted during the memorial service that was held for her over the weekend. Hundreds of people turned out, including current and former students and coworkers.
“We live in Riverhead and Nancy would drive to the train station in the morning and get on the train with other teachers, and they’d all have conversations,” he said. “There were half a dozen of them, if not more. They had such a bond, and I’m just recognizing it now. I knew it existed, but I didn’t know the strength of it.
“She touched so many lives, but she was so humble about it,” he added.
Bagshaw shared that his wife had been in the beginning stages of starting a new foreign language honor society at Bridgehampton, something both he and her brother, Jim Stewart, said she had expressed excitement about in recent weeks.
Bagshaw devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to her students and the school, but had an impact in the wider Bridgehampton community as well. For 13 years, she taught a popular Spanish class for adults at Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, using an immersion approach.
“She had a very loyal following,” Hampton Library Director Lisa Michne said of the once-weekly class. “Because she worked in the school, she would also sometimes help students out here when they came for tutoring. She really cared about the community, the school and the library. She was a wonderful person.”
Bridgehampton School Superintendent Dr. Mary T. Kelly called Bagshaw’s death a “devastating loss” for the students, staff and alumni.
“She was a beloved educator and was kind, caring, sweet and always looking out for people, whether it was her kids or fellow staff members,” she said. “She was just a warm and tremendously enthusiastic educator who was very highly regarded as a member of the Bridgehampton family.”
Kelly said the school will plan a formal way to memorialize Bagshaw and her time as a teacher in the district later this year. “There is a tremendous desire to do something here that will substantiate her importance as a teacher,” she said, adding that the number of current and former students who came to the weekend services was significant. “It’s definitely a testament to the positive impact she had on the lives of children here who have gone on to become successful adults and remained connected to her, either directly or in terms of their memories of being here,” she added.
As for memories of his own life with her, Bagshaw said there are many he will cherish during the 31 years he spent with his wife. They were devout members of their church, the Church of the Redeemer Episcopal Church in Mattituck, and spent the majority of their time in the summer at the beach. They were longtime members of the Swordfish Beach Club in Westhampton Beach, and Nancy had a reputation for always finding beautiful shells during long walks on the beach. She would frequently take them home and decorate with them, putting them on mirrors or shelves in their home.
“She would always find perfect sand dollars,” her brother, Jim Stewart, recalled. “I would say, ‘How do you find them?’ Because if I found them, it was always broken pieces. But she would just find these perfectly intact sand dollars. She had a knack for seeing the beauty in nature.”
She also saw the beauty in connecting with others, and her favorite way to do that was through language. She taught Spanish, and was also fluent in Portuguese and French.
“She was always willing to learn more, too,” Stewart said. “She picked up Japanese phrases pretty quickly, and for a while was studying Russian.”
Throughout her life, Bagshaw maintained a strong connection with the people she met decades ago in Brazil, a country she returned to many times. Her husband recalled fondly other trips they had made together, recounting his wife’s delight at swimming with dolphins during a trip to Bermuda, and visiting Paris for their 25th wedding anniversary, and going on a river cruise on the Rhône.
“She was fascinated with foreign places and foreign languages,” he said.
Bagshaw was also an avid reader, and majored in journalism at Penn State University before eventually going into teaching. She also maintained a passion for wrestling, a sport that loomed large in her family’s life. During her time at Penn State, she was the manager for the men’s wrestling team, a program with a winning tradition, and Stewart said she was also enthusiastic about showing up to support him when he coached the varsity wrestling team at East Hampton High School. He added that she was equally enthusiastic in her support of the Bridgehampton boys basketball team, the marquee team with a strong winning tradition at the school where she worked as well.
Bagshaw was also remembered for her delight in other simple pleasures, like spending time with her many nieces and nephews, and her knack for perfectly and enthusiastically decorating her home for all the holidays.
“She was a breath of fresh air to so many people,” her husband said. “And she had such a contagious smile.”
The family requests that memorial donations be made to Katy’s Courage of Sag Harbor, to honor the memory of her niece, Katy Stewart, who died of a rare pediatric cancer at the age of 12.
Editor’s note: This article was published by the Express News Group, publishers of 27East.com, The Southampton Press, The East Hampton Press, The Sag Harbor Express, and Express Magazine. It is reprinted here by permission.
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