Nancy Louise (Perley) Buskey Obituary

Nancy Louise Perley Buskey, a native of Rochester, Minnesota, and a long-time resident of Port Aransas, passed away on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at the age of 68, surrounded by her family.

A memorial will be scheduled at a later date.

After a brief illness, Nancy was admitted to the hospital at the end of March where doctors diagnosed her with end-stage ovarian cancer, a disease that often exhibits few symptoms until it’s too late, making it one of the leading causes of cancer death in women.

Nancy was a surgical nurse for four decades, trained at the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and spent her career healing others. She moved to Boston to study medical and scientific illustration where she met her husband of 41 years, Edward “Ed” Buskey. They married in 1978 and moved to North Kingston, Rhode Island, where Ed finished his doctorate in marine biology at the University of Rhode Island and was employed as a research scientist. Ed was offered a job at University of Texas Marine Science Institute in 1986 and the couple moved their young family to Port Aransas, where they would spend the next 30-plus years.

Nancy worked at North Bay Hospital in Aransas Pass, which was closed after Hurricane Harvey. In her private life she was a talented artist and a crafts woman, and there wasn't much she couldn't make or fix herself. She worked in many mediums over her life: she sewed, painted, sculpted, made jewelry, wove rugs, repaired furniture, made toys for friends’ babies, illustrated scientific papers, and dressed wounds for friends and neighbors.

In her retirement she found a second career as a watercolorist painting coastal scenes from around Port Aransas — especially birds, which she loved — and taught others to paint at the Port Aransas Art Center. While she was a very good nurse, she was happy to finally focus on her art and her family.

After her daughters grew up and she retired, Nancy traveled to conferences and meetings around the world with her beloved husband, Ed. She loved it, especially visits to Hawaii and New Orleans, two of her favorite places that they visited regularly. She was an active member of the Community Presbyterian Church of Port Aransas until it was destroyed in Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and sang in the church choir for many years.

Nancy was famously chatty and had many friends in her adopted home of Port Aransas. A woman who never met a stranger, she loved to talk to her neighbors, pet random dogs on her walks, and catch up with friends at the grocery store.

She is survived by her husband Ed of Port Aransas; her two daughters, Nicole “Nikki” Buskey of Corpus Christi and Danielle “Dani” Buskey of Killeen; her best friend and sister Helen Morrison and husband Bill of Kasson, Minnesota; her nieces and nephews: Krystal Osuji, husband Joe, and children Oliver and Liliana of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Jewel Morrison of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Tami Asher of Chatfield, Minnesota; Troy Asher and partner Becky Schultz of Wykoff, Minnesota and children, Cameron, Destiny, Rose, and Faith; and sister-in-law Norma King and husband Ronnie of Ashby, Massachusetts.

She was preceded in death by her sister, Winn Asher; her brother-in-law, Jerry Asher; her brother, Roy; her mother, Cecelia Perley Koenig; her father, Ernest Perley; and her stepfather, Lloyd Koenig.

In lieu of flowers a donation can be made in Nancy’s memory to the Port Aransas Art Center or the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.