Nancy Candler Nutter (April 30, 1929-Sept. 20, 2024)
The first child of John Howard Candler and his bride, Elizabeth Brandon Candler, she came into the world almost six months to the day before the U.S. Stock Market crashed. This untimely debut set off a roller-coaster childhood that would shape her life forever.
Her young mother died of cancer just before her 14th birthday and her father passed away four years later, some would say of a broken heart. After that, Nancy and her three younger siblings were surrounded by the love and care of their grandparents and extended family who tried to fill the void.
She spent most of her childhood in Druid Hills, but graduated from Washington Seminary, a school for girls on Peachtree Street. Next, she attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO before moving to New York City to study at Parsons School of Design. Nancy fondly remembered her years living near Washington Square enjoying the diversity of a much broader world than Atlanta could offer at the time.
She eventually returned home where she met her first husband, William Wayne Graham (Bill), a decorated World War II patriot who volunteered to return to service for the Korean conflict. Sadly, his plane crashed just one week before their daughter, Elizabeth, was born. This early experience losing multiple loved ones led Nancy to acquire a stoicism that resulted in a “don’t sweat the small stuff” outlook for the rest of her life.
In 1954, she married Charles Nisbett Nutter, one of Graham’s close friends, and they pursued a life together in Jacksonville and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., giving Elizabeth a baby sister and brother. By her own account, Nancy relished her Florida years and made many friends through her involvement with the Junior League of Ft. Lauderdale, Children’s Opportunity Group, and the Women’s Circle of First Presbyterian Church. She volunteered to lead the local Children’s Theater, a Girl Scout Troup and helped her husband sponsor a Little League team at Little Yankee Stadium.
Nancy and Charles enjoyed three decades of retirement, shuttling between their condo on the Galt Ocean Mile and their mountain home in Skylake, Ga. They later came back to Atlanta, living at Mt. Vernon Towers until Charles died in 2011. On her own again, Nancy became a founding member of the Sandy Springs chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and an associate member of the Colonel William Candler chapter in Gainesville, Ga; she joined Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church and played bridge multiple times a week.
In addition to her husbands, Nancy was preceded in death by her brothers, Asa G. Candler V and John H. Cander, Jr., her nephews, Asa G. Candler VI and William R. Candler and her daughter-in-law, Susan T. Nutter.
She is survived by her sister, Helen (Nena) Griffith; her sisters-in-law, June R. Candler and Carson B. Elliott; her children, Elizabeth Graham Reilly of Asheville, N.C. (Ed); Caroline Nutter Duffy (Jake) and David Nutter of Atlanta; and seven grandchildren: Chaz Duffy (Ashton) of Nashville, TN. and Noah Duffy of Birmingham, AL., Jane Nutter also of Nashville; Jim Nutter of Quantico, VA, and Nancy, Ann Marie and Laura Lillian Nutter, all of Atlanta. In addition, she is loved and remembered by nieces and nephews and fondly regarded by the staff and residents of Legacy of Buckhead.
Throughout her life, Nancy was a voracious reader, child advocate, beach lover and an accomplished ballroom dance competitor. She’d want others to pay tribute to her by reading to a child, visiting a library, or taking time to appreciate the serenity of the ocean.
A service to celebrate Nancy’s long life will be at 2 p.m. on Wed., Sept. 25, in the Mikell Chapel at the Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road. She will be buried near her loved ones during a private ceremony at Westview Cemetery.
