Release From Kansas Wesleyan University

In September of 1960, Andrew Deckert met his wife, Nancy. The event was the Whistle Walk, an event that took place during Freshman Week. Andrew didn’t remember when they met, but Nancy did.

Both were education majors, studying to become teachers, and both taught school at several different schools, including Grace E. Stewart and Meadowlark Ridge (Nancy), Salina Central and Salina South (Andrew). Andrew also coached distance runners throughout his career.

Their daughter Alysun is now a supervisor of the organ transplant floor at the University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, where she was honored with the Distinguished Staff Award in 2006. Son, Ryun, is a math specialist in the Parkway School District in Kirkwood, MO. In 2011, Ryun was honored as the Missouri Elementary Teacher of the Year. If you ask Andrew, these honors come naturally with an influence like Nancy.

Nancy was adamant about the importance of reading for stabilizing and broadening an elementary student’s life. She hated the injustice of labels and was a strong advocate for inclusion of elementary counselors.

Shortly before her passing, she said, “You know I’d go back to the classroom in a minute if I could.” She loved her job and wasn’t through teaching.

That love of teaching led Andrew, Alysun, and Ryun to establish an endowment in Nancy’s name, the Nancy Pickering Deckert Education Scholarship. The endowment, a $15,000 gift to the University, is something Deckert hopes that “good teachers from KWU will be encouraged to emphasize that a teacher’s sincere interest in the educational life of students does make a difference.”

Through the influence of this scholarship, the Deckerts want to be able to say, “Nancy isn’t through teaching yet.”