Nancy Delchamps

Nancy Starr West Delchamps, beloved mother of David, Stephen, Suzanne and Lisa Delchamps, passed away peacefully at her home in Hopkinton on July 9, 2025. She was 94 years old.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, on June 27, 1931, Nancy was one of three children of Julian West and Helen (nee May) West. Nancy spent her earliest years in Summit, New Jersey, and the Washington, D.C., metro area. Her older brother, David West, died of Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 9. When Nancy’s younger sister, Priscilla, was born in 1944, Nancy became her unofficial mother, showing the qualities of love, patience, gentleness, humor and domestic good sense that she would later exhibit in raising her own children.

Nancy spent her later childhood and high school years in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, graduating from Mountain Lakes High School in 1949. She met her future husband, Thomas “Tim” Delchamps, when the Wests hosted Tim and his parents for dinner at their home on North Glen Road. Tim also had spent most of his childhood in Mountain Lakes and had graduated from MLHS in 1941, subsequently serving in the Pacific theater during World War II. Nancy and Tim’s fathers both worked for Bell Laboratories, and that connection led to Nancy and Tim’s first meeting in 1949. The two were married at the Glen Road house on Dec. 15, 1950.

Nancy and Tim began their life together in Sherman Oaks, California, and then in Little Falls, New Jersey, where their sons, David and Stephen, were born. They returned to Mountain Lakes in 1960, where Nancy gave birth to Suzanne and Lisa. Over the years, Nancy turned 22 Maple Way, 100 Ball Road and 80 Laurel Hill Road into warm and welcoming homes filled with the sound of Broadway and film scores. Nancy was an accomplished hostess who loved staging dinner parties, often in celebration of Tim’s birthday. In addition to being an expert homemaker and accomplished home economist, Nancy participated in the Town Club of Mountain Lakes and the Mountain Lakes Women’s Club. Her son Steve recalls how much Nancy enjoyed working on costumes for the Town Club Follies. Nancy and Tim enjoyed playing tennis on the public courts at the high school and also at Park Lakes Tennis Club, where Nancy, ever the competitor, played in numerous ladies doubles groups.

After all four children had left the home, Nancy pursued a successful second career in real estate, working first at Century 21, then at Schlott, and finally at Coldwell Banker Realtors.  Nancy brought warmth, empathy and a receptive listener’s ear to her work in real estate, an often prickly profession. Her clients and colleagues appreciated her special gifts, and all grew fond of her.

Over the years, Nancy and Tim traveled to Hawaii, France and Italy. In 1970, they began making regular summer family pilgrimages to Beach Haven on the Jersey Shore, where Tim and his family had often vacationed when he was a child. Nancy grew to love the Shore trips, which ranked with Christmas as annual highlights. At Christmas, the house glowed with Nancy’s incomparable decorations. She often quipped that she spent half the year looking forward to the Shore and half looking forward to Christmas, doubtless because those occasions brought the family together.

When Tim became severely ill, Nancy undertook to move the two of them from Mountain Lakes to Hopkinton, close to the home of Nancy’s youngest child, Lisa, and Lisa’s family. There, Nancy spent many happy years as grandmother to Lisa’s two children. Although in recent years Nancy experienced some cognitive decline, her kind and cheerful nature remained intact, enriching the lives of all around her. She enjoyed watching musicals on television, cuddling with her cat, Babe, and playing with Lisa’s dog, Maisie. She developed special bonds with her amazing in-home caregivers. To the end, she cherished her children’s frequent visits.

Predeceasing Nancy were her parents, her brother, David, and her sister, Priscilla. She is survived by sons David of Ithaca, New York, and Stephen of Chicago, and daughters Suzanne of Arvada, Colorado, and Lisa of Holliston, as well as Lisa’s husband, Tom, and Lisa and Tom’s two children, Madeline and Evelyn.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Callanan Cronin Funeral Home. No services are planned.

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