Northcrest Community

Audrey Lynn Fawcett

Audrey Lynn Fawcett

Our dear Mom, Audrey Lynn Fawcett, 88, of Ames, died peacefully on August 23 at Israel Family Hospice House.

She was born January 5, 1932, in Reading, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Connie Beal and Elizabeth (Nyce) Council. She was a registered nurse, graduating in 1952 with highest honors from the Abington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, Abington, Pennsylvania. In 1983, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois. Her career brought her many rewarding nursing experiences, including the last 24 years of her profession when she cared for students from around the globe at the Student Health Center of Iowa State University.

After retiring, she traveled and enjoyed volunteering. She loved writing, singing, acting; attending theatre, concerts, movies; but paramount were her family and treasured friends. She valued life and laughter abundantly.
Those of you who knew our mom even a little bit will always remember how her full-faced smiles and belly laughs could brighten your whole week. Those of you who knew her well came to understand that her infectious optimism was no superficial thing. Never one to accept at face value the tenets of her conservative Mennonite and Methodist upbringing, she once said, "You know how in First Corinthians it says that between faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love? I don't think that's so. I believe the greatest of these is hope." Our mother was a brilliant woman with an extra-long list of talents, but if you knew our mother at all, we bet this is what you remember the most: she inspired hope.

The tenacious wellspring of hope within her, however it came to be, existed as a counterweight to her keen awareness that evil and injustice existed in the world. Though her spirituality evolved through life (ever-fed by an insatiable curiosity), the constant was a belief that our purpose as human beings is to offer comfort to others, end injustice, and give people hope.

Audrey Lynn moved through her every day with kindness and love. She had an uncanny ability to feel and understand the emotional vulnerabilities of others. Deploying that superpower with her five children throughout our lives, she made us each feel special in her unwavering support of our individuality and unique interests. We here publish her death in wholehearted celebration of her life.

She is survived by her daughters, Kristen Fawcett King (Randy) of Mechanicsburg, PA, Robin Fawcett of Burlington, VT, Mary Carol Racelis (Christopher) of Western Springs, IL, and one son, Eric Kennedy Fawcett of St. Paul, MN, granddaughters, Hanigan Audrey Racelis and Cecilia Grace Fawcett, grandsons, Jordan Fawcett King, Aren Nilsson, Cameron Kennedy and Benjamin Fawcett Racelis, Jackson and Lewis Fawcett, and five nieces. She was preceded in death by her parents, her daughter Lisa Lynn Nilsson, three sisters, two brothers, and one nephew.

A gathering to celebrate will be planned in the future.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Ames Public Library she treasured: Ames Public Library Friends Foundation, Attn: Audrey Lynn Fawcett Memorial 515 Douglas Avenue, Ames, IA 50010. amespubliclibrary.org.  Memorial contributions in honor of Audrey may also be directed to Northcrest Community or the Northcrest Foundation, 1801 20th Street, Ames, Iowa 50010.

 

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