Nancy Pearl Overton Covert peacefully passed away on January 27, 2026, eight days after her 96th birthday, at Maple Cottage Memory Care in Hendersonville, where she had resided for the past two years. Her family will always be grateful for the loving and caring staff.
Nancy (Nana) was born in an unheated farmhouse in Bradford, TN, to Thomas Paul and Elsie (Griffin) Overton on a freezing, snowy January day in 1930, and she always teased that she never got warm the rest of her life. She passed on a snowy and ice-laden day surrounded by her loving and devoted family. Her childhood family home got running water and electricity the day she left for nursing school at UT Memphis. Nancy graduated in 1951 receiving her nursing cap as a registered nurse. As a young girl, she spent much of her time picking cotton and working on the family farm when she wasn’t playing basketball for Bradford High School, where she was the valedictorian of her Senior Class.
As a registered nurse, Nancy worked with geriatric patients at Miller Clinic in Madison before moving to the obstetric wing at Nashville Memorial Hospital, where she assisted in the labor and delivery of over 1,000 babies. In 1990, Nancy was the recipient of the prestigious Riley-McAndrews Award for Excellence in Nursing Service from Nashville Memorial Hospital. She spent many years as a school nurse at all the Lipscomb schools. In her spirit of raising her own four children in a caring and loving environment, Nancy welcomed children from the Spring Hill campus of TN Children’s Homes into their home during holidays in the 1960’s.
A member of Madison Church of Christ for 58 years, Nancy belonged to the Sherrill Bible Class and was a Sunshine Lady who visited and spent time with the residents while delivering flowers each week to each and every resident in a local nursing home. She enjoyed fireworks shows, especially at the Nashville Sounds baseball games, watching the Lady Vols basketball games and the TN Titans when she wasn’t on one of over forty-three medical mission trips to Panama, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Baja California, Mexico, or traveling around the world with her husband of forty- five years. “Their fingerprints of service are all over Baja and have been a shining example of how we all should love people.” Nancy loved cooking for family and guests in her home, especially at Christmas time, and was known for her sausage pinwheels, homemade bread and rolls, pear preserves, coconut cake and chocolate pie.
Nancy is survived by her husband of 45 years, Roy Covert; daughter, Gail Hancock; sons, Chuck (Jackie) Cowden, Doug (Paula) Cowden, Jeff (Talisa) Cowden; step-son, Gary (Kim) Covert; 12 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by the father of her children, Dr. Charles M. Cowden, sister, Sarah Barber Wyrick, and step-son, Tim Covert.
Nancy’s Life Celebration service will be held on Friday, February 6th, in the Bixler Chapel at Madison Church of Christ, Madison, TN. Visitation will be from 11 AM to 1 PM, with the service at 1 PM. A family graveside service will be held at 3 PM at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens, Hendersonville, TN. https://www.gardnermemorialchapelinc.com
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to Pine Springs Summer Camp, Vernon & Lois C. Cone & Timothy D. Covert Endowment, 7701 Whisterwheel Way, Fort Worth, TX 76123. https://www.pinespringscamp.com or Baja Missions, Inc. 337 Lake Valley Drive, Franklin, TN 37069. https://www.bajamissions.us
Active Pallbearers:
Gary Covert, Marty Cook, Chase Cowden, Weston Cowden, Tucker Cowden and Zack Howell
MY FRIEND NANCY COVERT
She must do something for someone today:
Round up her love and give it away.
Telephone a friend, just over the hill,
Who’s a whole lot lonely and a little bit ill.
Write on her heart several things to be done:
It will be such a pleasure, not to mention the fun!
Say a few words on a little bitty note,
To make somebody glad that she wrote.
Remember a friend if she can’t be there.
Open her heart and just send a prayer.
The day moves on and she’s getting in high
To give away that which money can’t buy.
O.W.
1997
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