Obituary of Nancy Lou Raney

Nancy Raney was born on April 21, 1935 in Hastings, Adams Co., Nebraska to Mary Virginia Bartlett and Morris Lee Nelson. As a child, she moved to Rochester, MN. and spent the rest of her childhood there. Nancy made some very dear life long friends during this time. She moved to CA to attend Stanford University. Nancy married her college sweetheart, Vernon Atkinson, in 1957 and graduated the same year. The couple then moved to Oakland where Nancy commuted across to the Ferry Building in SF and worked for the Port Authority. Soon after they moved to St. Louis, MO, San Jose, CA, and Portland, Or. While Vern completed his medical degree. Vern and Nancy moved to Santa Cruz when Vern joined the Santa Cruz Medical Clinic. Vern and Nancy divorced in 1970 after having three children. She met Bill Raney and married him in 1972. At that time, Nancy adopted Bill's son, Zachary. Nancy joined Bill at his business, The Nickelodeon Theater as the publicist. They worked together and lived in Happy Valley for over 40 years. Nancy is survived by her husband Bill, her daughter, Julie Atkinson of Redwood City, CA, Her son, Zach Raney of Santa Cruz, her son Kevin Atkinson of Hawthorne, CA., her son-in-law, Joel Harrington, and her daughters-in-law, Athena Raney, Susan Atkinson and Miwako Atkinson. She was preceded in death by her son, Ken Atkinson in 2011. Nancy was the proud grandmother of Isaac Harrington, Aubrey and Brianna Raney, Hiro and Hannah Atkinson, and Silas and Luke Atkinson. Nancy is also survived by Laura Atkinson. There will be an Open House reception in honor of Nancy on June 4, 11am to 3pm at the Nickelodeon Theater.