Nancy Lee Stoeber

March 26, 1937-March 22, 2023

Monte Vista resident Nancy Lee (Rice) Stoeber passed away on March 22, 2023, in Del Norte, Colo., surrounded by family and friends.

Nancy was born on March 26, 1937, in Cheyenne, Wyo., to Lowell and Alice (Harrison) Rice.

Nancy grew up in Alameda, California, where she moved when she was 2 years old.  She attended the University of California, Berkeley, and Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she received her degree in Nursing in 1959.

While completing her psychiatric nurses training at the State Hospital in Pueblo, Colo., she was invited to go home with a classmate for the weekend. She met the man who would become her beloved husband in his mother’s kitchen in Monte Vista, Colo. Nancy and Leo “Bud” Stoeber, Jr.  were married on Sept. 26, 1964, in Alameda, Calif., and celebrated nearly 58 years together.

Nancy began her nursing career at St. Mary’s in San Francisco, and later worked at Alameda County Hospital in Oakland, Calif. After moving to Colorado, Nancy held many nursing positions across the San Luis Valley. She worked at a the Del Norte Hospital and Nursing Home and was an obstetric and pediatric nurse in Del Norte, and as the School Nurse for the Del Norte School District, Director of Nursing at the Veteran’s Center at Homelake, and worked in the emergency room in Alamosa. Nancy was instrumental in opening outpatient surgery at the San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center in Alamosa before she retired. After retiring from nursing, Nancy continued to serve as a caregiver by volunteering as a “Gray Lady” to assist hospital patients and visitors, where she met and made many good friends.

Nancy was an amazing cook, and always had something baked to bring when visiting friends and family. Nancy loved the daffodils her husband grows. She was an avid pinochle player and spent many hours playing with her pinochle club and her family. After retiring, Nancy spent much of her time in California, with her family and friends. She loved San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren while in California and when they would visit her in Colorado.

Nancy was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. She will be dearly missed by her husband Leo “Bud” Stoeber, Jr. of Monte Vista, her children Mike (Jennifer) Stoeber, of Fresno, Calif., and Julie Stoeber of Fredericksburg, Va., as well as her beloved grandchildren Owen and Carolyn Stoeber, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Nancy was preceded in death by her parents Lowell and Alice Harrison, her brother Gerald “Jerry” Rice, and her son Luke Stoeber.

A Recitation of the Rosary will be held on March 30, 2023, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Monte Vista with a Funeral Mass to be held on March 31, 2023, also at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Monte Vista at 10 a.m.

To express condolences, please visit www.rogersfunerals.com. Rogers Family Mortuary in Monte Vista is in care of the arrangements.