Nancy Fenn Memorial Scholarship Fund
Nancy was born in Rockdale, Texas but moved frequently as a child until her family settled in the suburbs of Chicago where she and her twin sister could attend high school. After graduating from Carleton College in Minnesota, Nancy moved to Chicago to work at the Chicago Sun-Times, a position she loved. There she met Roger Ebert (a fun fact she often mentioned at parties!). Soon after, she was married to a naval officer and gave birth to a baby girl.
After a divorce a few years later, Nancy attended paralegal school and began a career as a legal secretary, something at which she excelled and in which she took great joy. She was a devoted mother who also managed to pursue her own interests, one at a time, mostly athletic, and always with great intensity. These included racquetball, scuba diving, rollerblading, and finally tennis. She also dedicated many years of her life to serving as the Youth Director at Unity San Diego.
With her daughter grown, Nancy began to pursue professionally an interest she had had as a hobby for many years and became a professional astrologer known as Nancy Fenn. Astrology is a philosophical system Nancy believed explains the mysteries of life, reveals the underlying patterns of our existence, and illuminates the darkest corners of the psyche. She was sensitive to the unorthodox career she had chosen and how it was received by others but took great pride nonetheless in being well-respected in her field and nationally recognized as an expert on Saturn Returns. Nancy was well versed in Jungian psychology and mystical traditions. She spent the last decades of her life listening patiently to others’ sufferings, providing guidance and insight when her expertise was sought, offering emotional support in the most trying moments of people’s lives, and bearing witness to their suffering.
Nancy loved to write. She published an article on the American buffalo in a large newspaper when she was still in her 20s, then later co-authored a book on surviving divorce called Alone. She had great success at the end of her life with her websites on astrology due not only to her great insight but also her appealing prose. These are still available at zodiac-traits.com and zodiacsigntraits.com
Nancy also thought deeply and profoundly about introversion and advocated for the rights of introverts -- to be left alone, to be quiet, to have their wishes respected -- in a culture she felt heavily favored extroverts. She wrote ebooks and published many articles on these topics, which she hoped would lead sensitive and introverted people to a deeper understanding of themselves and cope with the hustle and bustle of modern life. Much of this she did before nurturing introversion went mainstream. At the end of her life, she was working on a book about introverts.
Nancy also utilized her strong education to illuminate her interest in astrology by analyzing current and historical events through an astrological lens. In her blog, she considered economics, military battles, and historical personalities from an astrological perspective. These studies yielded many fascinating insights about psychology and Saturn cycles.
On Monday evening, May 13, 2013, Nancy Fenn passed away peacefully in Silver Spring, Maryland, after suffering from Parkinson's and Multiple System Atrophy for several years. The astrology scholarship was established in Nancy's name by her surviving family members.