Nancy Roach 1933 - 2007

Born in Detroit in February 28, 1933, Nancy Roach (Bird), believed in, and actively lived, the George Sand quote; "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." The devoted wife, mother and grandmother passed away at home in Crystal Lake, IL on Monday, February 26th from pancreatic cancer.

Nancy Bird graduated in 1951 as Salutatorian from Fordson High School in Dearborn, MI. An outstanding young pianist, Nancy declined an opportunity to study at Juilliard to attend the University of Michigan where she earned a degree in education. While studying at Michigan, she married fellow student John Roach in 1952. After graduation Nancy taught elementary school in Dearborn. Shortly thereafter she joined her husband who was stationed in Japan with the military. In Japan, Nancy gave birth to her first child, Nancy Anne.

Upon returning to the United States, the Roaches settled in Cleveland, OH where son John Philip and daughter Catherine were subsequently born. In 1967 the family moved to the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Park where son Gregory was born.

A long-time member of the Grosse Pointe Artist Association, Nancy volunteered to design and write a unique history of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She then returned to full-time work as a copywriter for Crowley's Department Store. Later she joined the promotions department of the Detroit News where she won several prestigious Caddy Awards from the Detroit Creative Directors Council. In the mid-'80s Nancy also served briefly as the public relations director of Children's Hospital of Michigan. She retired in 1985.

In 2000 she and her husband moved to Crystal Lake, IL where they were active in the lives of their grandchildren. The couple continued to travel extensively throughout the United States regularly visiting both coasts and the deep South.

Most important to her, Nancy loved being a grandmother, and her grandchildren returned that love.

She is survived by John, her husband of 54 years, her loving sister Phyllis and her husband Paul, her four children: Nancy Roach (Greg Crafts), John Roach (Sally Russell), Kate (Roach) Ballew (Cam Ballew), Greg Roach (Robin Meyer), and her grandchildren: Katie Roach Crafts, Andy Roach Crafts, Chas Ballew, Drake Ballew, Galen Ballew, Vaughn Ballew, Malcolm Roach, Ezekiel Roach, Henry Roach and Ethan Roach.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday March 10 in Crystal Lake, Illinois. For additional information, please contact Nancy Anne at 541-400-9664 or Nancy.Roach@FightColorectalCancer.org.

In lieu of flowers, please direct memorial donations to any of the following organizations:

o Planned Parenthood (www.PlannedParenthood.org)

o Save the Children (www.SaveTheChildren.org)

o National Public Radio (www.NPR.org)

  ¶ 7:23 AM 9 comments

  Help Wanted Does anyone out there know of a couple of culinary types looking for work? The restaurant of my employ is looking (so far in vain) for two people who have excellent customer service skills and some basic professional food knowledge. The positions require both food preparation and customer interaction in an open kitchen.

The best things about this gig are that it is a steady 5-day-a-week job and, since we specialize in lunch service, you get to be home (or wherever!) at night. It is a fairly fun and laid-back atmosphere compared to most restaurants but we are pretty busy, so slackers and militant-Escoffier-devotees need not apply. (classical training = good. Insane rigidity = bad.)

Drop me a note at greg@gregoryroach.com if you, or someone you know, would like to find out more.  ¶ 8:07 PM 2 comments

  Bigger than "Wilson's Wife" While the Scooter Libby trial has attracted a fair amount of press who are enamored by the drama of a politically ruthless and backstabbing White House staff, there is a similar case that has been pretty thoroughly ignored in most of the press:

An ex-CIA agent is suing his former employer for wrongful dismissal, claiming he was sacked because he did not come up with the desired slant in his pre-war Iraq WMD.

A federal judge has ruled that a CIA agent identified only as "Doe," allegedly fired after he gathered prewar intelligence showing that Iraq was not developing weapons of mass destruction, can proceed with his lawsuit against the CIA. The judge has ordered both parties to submit discovery requests–evidence they want for their case–to be completed by March 15, according to the CIA agent's lawyer and a spokesman for the Justice Department, which is defending the CIA in court.

Gee. What reason could this former agent possibly have to believe that agents who came to the correct conclusions on Iraq would be thrown under the bus by White House loyalists?

I guess if you don't have Tim Russert testifying under oath it's not worth covering.

Sad and scary. We are treated like children by our rulers and our media.  ¶ 6:10 PM 3 comments