Nancy Deing Young Kuo Leung

Nancy D. Leung of Midland, TX passed away unexpectedly at the age of 83 on May 4th, 2025 in Houston, TX. Public viewing will be on Friday, May 16, 2025 at 5 pm followed by rosary service at 7 pm at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Chapel. Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday May 17, 2025 at 2 pm at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church with interment to follow at Resthaven Cemetery.

Nancy was born on June 1st, 1941 in Changsha, Hunan, China, the third of four children.  When she was five, the family emigrated to Taiwan, and it is here that her father worked as a chemistry professor. Her mother had multiple health issues and Nancy ultimately decided to go into nursing, attaining her RN degree and graduating at the top of her class. She considered becoming a nurse anesthetist at the time but decided to travel with her brother, Frank, to Edmonton, Canada where he was enrolled at the University of Alberta in the school of engineering.

While in Edmonton, Nancy worked as an RN at the university hospital and met her future husband, Patrick, who was a medical student there. Before they actually met though, Patrick spotted Nancy at an Asian cultural fashion show where she was featured as ‘Miss Taiwan.’  It was here where Patrick was smitten upon seeing Nancy for the first time and legend has it, he told his best friend Francis that he was going to marry that girl. And true to form, Nancy and Patrick were betrothed one year later after a whirlwind romance. They got married in 1966 and soon welcomed their first daughter, Karen, in 1967.  After Patrick graduated from medical school, the young family ultimately settled in the small mining town of Timmins, Ontario where they had two more children (Christina and Michael) before the family relocated to Midland in 1981 during the oil boom. During this time in Midland, Nancy served as Patrick’s de facto office manager as well as his onsite RN until they closed the practice in 2018.

While some might argue that it is never a good idea to work with your spouse, Nancy proved her presence in Patrick’s office was a case study in synergy.

Whereas Patrick would render medicine in a no-nonsense clinical fashion, Nancy provided the nurturing attention to detail that her nursing background and natural disposition afforded. She remembered not only the patients’ medical histories, but also their extended families, where they vacationed last, and what their kids were up to. She just remembered everything. While the patients may have initially come to Patrick’s office for his clinical acumen and reputation, Nancy kept them coming back with her personalized care.

And all the while, the two worked together but also traveled together, visiting all the continents except for Antarctica. They went to the pyramids of Egypt. They went to the Taj Mahal in India. They went back home to Patrick’s native Hong Kong and Nancy’s Taiwan. They went everywhere and loved all of it. They also briefly took ballroom dancing lessons together, which was more of Patrick humoring Nancy who really loved it.

After Patrick retired in 2018, Nancy saw his health deteriorate and helplessly watched as the tall, handsome and brilliant man she fell in love with succumb to cancer. For three years she gave up the hobbies that made her happy (including ballroom dancing) and spent her waking hours tending to Patrick until he passed in 2021. It was a bleak time for her, and it challenged her belief that she could live a life after Patrick. As Nancy’s identity was inextricably intertwined with her husband in Midland, staying there only yielded bittersweet reminders wherever she went.

Reluctantly, Nancy made the decision to relocate to Houston to be closer to her children. She chose the retirement community, Brookdale Galleria, which was minutes away from not only great restaurants and shopping but her son’s home too. In the process, she made new friends and of course was able to remember everybody’s names quickly. Apparently Nancy enjoyed walking up to each table during meals to chit chat and address everyone by name before she ate herself. She also enjoyed all the events that they had at Brookdale including the funny fashion and talent shows, the Sunday brunches where she could get dressed up, the evening concerts. She particularly loved the planned excursions around town and learned to love and embrace Houston: the annual Art Car Festival, NASA, Galveston, museums in the museum district, and Discovery Green downtown. She volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House, too. To top it off, she practically went to a new restaurant every weekend and discovered that Houston was a ‘foodie’ town.

If anybody had the pleasure of sharing a meal with Nancy, you would know that she could eat! How was it that this pint sized, slender person could put down so much food? And not some low carb, plant-based diet more befitting of someone who was so body conscious. No, Nancy’s tastes gravitated towards something more substantial. It was a running joke that Nancy’s idea of veggies was a heaping scoop of potato salad. If you ever shared a meal with her at Clear Springs Restaurant in Midland, you would know that her go-to order was the ‘little buddy’ platter replete with fried catfish and fried shrimp. Ever see that ridiculous slab of baby back ribs at J. Alexander in Houston? No doggy bag for her as she could polish the plate clean. If she ordered wonton noodle soup at Sinh Sinh, she would also have to get the fried calamari with sliced jalapeño. And let’s not forget her love of french fries. No ketchup, one fry at a time and all gone in no time.

And so not only was Nancy’s new apartment in Houston close to good food and shopping, but it was also strategically and serendipitously only five minutes away from a Fred Astaire Dance Studio. Enter Jhondarr Lopez, her dance instructor who helped mom believe in herself and find her self-confidence again. While he pushed Nancy to be the wonderful dancer she became, their instant camaraderie and chemistry was the best part of the relationship. He could just make Nancy laugh like no other and get her to dance beautifully at the same time. At first it started as weekly dance lessons which then turned into competing at regional events in Conroe, Stafford and Sugarland in which she started collecting medals in individual events like the Argentine Tango. Soon she was competing at the national level in places such as New Orleans, Orlando, and Las Vegas. More recently this past April she competed at the Fred Astaire World Championships in NYC and placed fourth overall in her age category. Not only that though, but Nancy also found her community in the ballroom dance space. She met so many fun and interesting people who shared her passion for dancing. She was having the time of her life and spending time with people who shared her passion and truly enjoyed seeing her thrive. Pretty good for an old lady as she used to say.

In short, Nancy was living her best life until the very end and was genuinely happy and fulfilled in her new life. In fact, on the day of her passing, she was getting ready to get dressed for a Kentucky Derby party, reaching for a bag of derby appropriate hats in her closet. The stepladder that she was on, however, had other plans for her and she slipped and hit her head in the process. Even in her last moments, she was looking forward to the future and spent little time ruminating on the past.

In writing this, it is difficult to encapsulate Nancy’s essence on paper: her youthful enthusiasm and willingness to try something new; that twinkle in her eye when she saw you; her wicked sense of humor that gravitated towards the ribald or phallic that often brought her to the point of tears. She could befriend a stranger at the drugstore and somehow end up exchanging phone numbers. She was also fiercely loyal and loved her family most of all. She loved Patrick so much and continued to honor him after he passed with her beautiful flower arrangements at his gravesite.

To us children though, she was the quintessential, devoted mother whose tireless acts of love are not forgotten: Those carefully hand sewn Halloween costumes that won us first place at the costume competition in Timmins. Those beautifully decorated birthday cakes. All those trips back and forth to our lessons for piano, violin, figure skating, singing, and tap dancing lessons. That slipper she used to scold us with when we were out of line. As grown children who had the privilege to be raised by a mother who was the glue of our family, we realize that our success as adults is a testament to the hard work and faith she had in us- both as kids and as adults. And for that we thank you, Mom.

Mom, please say hi to Dad for us. While you’re at it, say hi to our childhood dogs including your beloved Jem Jem. Don’t forget Mrs. Golz and Mrs. Matthews, too (our piano teachers growing up). We hope you and Dad are dancing together again. We love you, Mom.

The family requests that donations in memory of Nancy Leung be made to the Nancy Leung Endowed Scholarship for Nursing. Checks should be made payable to Midland College Foundation and sent to Jean Jones in the Allison Fine Arts Building, Room 141 or online at midland.edu. While mom was a dancer at heart, her soul was always in nursing.

https://www.midland.edu/about/foundation/giving/gift/index.php

Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland.  Online condolences may be made at www.npwelch.com.

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