Obituary of Nancy Cook Payne

Nancy Cook Payne of Falls Church Virginia passed away Thursday, February 8th, 2024, at age 82, joining her husband of 60 years, Dessau, who passed away in 2021. She is preceded in death by her parents Alley and John Cook and her sister Marcia. She is survived by her sons Christopher Payne (wife Susan) of Portland, Maine, and Matthew Payne (wife Dianne) of Alexandria, Virginia, and four grandchildren:  Jacob, Sarah, Ethan and Ryan.

Nancy was born in Georgia and her roots were strong there. She met Dessau at Emory at Oxford and was a graduate of Emory, Tulane and George Mason University. She raised her family and built her career in northern Virginia. She loved the arts and found personal expression in pottery, needlepoint,  quilting, basket weaving, gardening and water colors.  She devoted herself to children and families in the community, from her early days in social work to leading commercial day care centers, licensing, lobbying, and ultimately teaching early childhood education at NVCC for 15 years.

She will be deeply missed by her family, friends and community.

The family is working to schedule a service at Dulin Methodist in Falls Church and Arlington National Cemetery.

Instead of flowers, consider donations to these community resources:

• The Campagna Center, Alexandria VA - https://www.campagnacenter.org/donate/
• The NOVA Foundation - https://giving.nvcc.edu/
• Dulin United Methodist Church, Falls Church VA - https://www.dulinchurch.org/