FLORENCE, Ky. –Nancy Elaine Chill Rankin, age 95, formerly of Warren, Ohio, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. She died peacefully at her home in Florence, Ky.
Elaine was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 50 years, H. Dean Rankin.
She is survived by her son, John J. Pico and his fiancee, Amanda Thiry; her daughter, M. Carlotta Lively and husband, Michael; and 10 grandchildren, Rachel Pico and Joshua, Samuel, James, Mary, Jonathan, Rachael, Abigail, David and Naomi Lively; as well as grandnephews, Michael and Matthew Alas.
Elaine was a graduate of Warren G. Harding High School and took a year after graduating to work in a war plant during World War II. She then went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kent State University in 1949 and 1956, respectively and received a master’s plus 30 from University of Akron in 1989. She began her teaching career at Jackson-Milton High School, where she met and married her first husband, Joseph Pico.
She went on to teach English, Spanish and health and physical education at Braceville High School, Garfield High School in Akron and a high school in Las Vegas, Nev., eventually returning to Ohio to teach at Copley Fairlawn High School and Nordonia High School. She taught a course for the University of Maryland in Germany and in 1990, took a position teaching for a Department of Defense School in Germany. Elaine’s last teaching post was at Ashland High School, where she took many of her students and family members with her to visit Spain and other European countries.
For the last five years, Elaine has lived across the street from her beloved daughter; son-in-law and their children in Florence, Ky. While in Kentucky, she enjoyed taking drives, visiting with her grandchildren and spending time tending to her garden.
A healthy living and exercise enthusiast, Elaine enjoyed good health until her last month, when she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After a short illness and saying her final goodbyes to her children and grandchildren, Elaine passed in her Florence, Ky. home with family by her side.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Research at Lustgarten.org to help find a cure, or a Humane Society near you, in honor of Elaine’s dearly departed Staffordshire Terrior, Buffy Rankin.
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