Our hobby lost a tireless advocate in late January with the passing of Nancy B. Clark of Massachusetts. She passed on the final day of the Southeastern Stamp Expo, a World Series of Philately show that she and her husband Doug helped found.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Nancy came to stamp collecting early. Both of her parents were stamp collectors and began encouraging her interest in the hobby at the age of 5 and took her to the Rubber City Stamp Show every year. They focused on French material, but her major interest would become postal history of the Northeast. Nancy’s other collecting interests included postal stationery, music, spray markings, rural free delivery, fancy cancels, and precancels.

Nancy became a music education teacher for children in kindergarten through eighth grade in New York and New Jersey and taught English and tutored students with dyslexia in Georgia. She also worked as a private music teacher and a church music director.

Her early efforts in the hobby focused on youth. She began as a Boy Scout merit badge counselor in 1978 and started three different school-based youth clubs at Sacred Heart Cathedral School (K-8), Virgil Grissom Elementary School (K-5), and Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School in Rochester, New York. She also brought stamp collecting to 4H.

In 1979, she became vice president of the Rochester Philatelic Association, then served as the APS chapter’s president before becoming chair of their ROPEX World Series of Philately exhibition in 1981 and 1982.

My first personal experience with Nancy was when she served as interim executive director of the Junior Philatelists of America from 1982 to 1985. Over this time, she also helped lead the youth area at the American Stamp Dealers Association New York City shows.

From 1982 to 1986, Nancy served as chair of the APS Youth Activities Committee. She initiated youth scholarships for the APS Summer Seminar, wrote a youth leader column for the APS Chapter Activities Committee, hosted a Benjamin Franklin leader exchange conference for teachers in connection with ROPEX, and developed project YES (Youths Exhibiting Stamps), which allowed five youth exhibitors and their parents to attend AMERIPEX 1986 at USPS expense. She turned down an opportunity to lead the youth area at AMERIPEX to serve on the show’s jury.

Nancy actively promoted youth participation in shows at all levels. She obtained a grant from the Council of Philatelic Organizations to design and create stamp learning games. She also trained postal employees and philatelists to work with young people in exhibiting their collections. Nancy served as the APS representative to the International Federation of Philately Youth Commission from 1982 until 1997.

In 1983, Nancy was appointed to the APS Judges Accreditation Committee and drafted youth judging guidelines. Having established herself in the hobby, Nancy was also invited to join the APS International Relations and Postal History Committees in 1983. In 1984, she accepted the first of multiple assignments as United States Commissioner to an international show. I was one of many collectors who Nancy encouraged to show their exhibits internationally. She served on the jury for eight international exhibitions and was a team leader for three.

Nancy was a founding member and president of the Georgia Federation of Stamp Clubs, and a founder of the Peach State Stamp Show (now known at the Southeastern Stamp Expo), which she chaired throughout its WSP accreditation from 1991 to 1996. In 1994, this show included 54 frames of youth exhibits. She also served as editor for the Georgia Postal History Society’s Georgia Postal Roads.

In 1993, Nancy was elected to the first of two terms as a director-at-large on the American Philatelic Society Board of Directors, serving to 1997. In 1999, Nancy was elected APS treasurer, also serving four years (two terms) in this position.

In 1996, Nancy headed her first international show – a specialized exhibition called OLYMPHILEX 1996, which had the greatest attendance of any of the official cultural events held in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She also ran a youth area at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Subsequent offices held included terms as secretary and director of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors and co-chair of Stamp Camp USA in 2002. In 2003, she was a founding member of the Auxiliary Markings Club for which she subsequently served as president.

In 2004, Nancy agreed to serve as the host of APS Stamp Talk, a bi-monthly, hour-long internet-based talk show on WS Radio. I remember trying to find a quiet area to do an interview with her by phone during the Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition.

Nancy chaired the committee for the youth and beginners area at Washington 2006 and contributed to three publications that were introduced at the exhibition: Stamps in the Class: Ben Franklin; Write Now! I Want to Hear From You; and The Ultimate Road Trip: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark. She prepared materials for and participated in an outreach program for 2,500 teachers for the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s “Teachers’ Night.”

After moving to Massachusetts, Nancy was elected chair of the Board of Trustees of the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History in 2012 and founded the Cape Cod Philatelic Group. She served as vice president of the American Philatelic Congress, as a director of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society and the Massachusetts Postal Research Society, founding member and president of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society Chapter 108, and treasurer of the Mobile Post Office Society and the Philatelic Group of Boston.

Nancy was a guiding force in getting the 2026 international show awarded to Boston and became the first women ever to lead an international show, serving as president for Boston 2026 until her health forced her to step back.

Nancy wrote dozens of articles that appeared in The American Philatelist, the American Philatelic Congress books, Scott Stamp Monthly, and many postal history journals. Some of these focused on her original research on the development of post road and postal practices of the pre-adhesive era in what became Maine. She also served as an expertizer for the APS.

From left, Kathy Johnson, Cheryl Ganz, Diane DeBlois, Nancy Clark, Denise Stotts, and Pat Stilwell-Walker show off their Luff Award rings in 2019. 

Nancy’s service to the hobby was recognized by many philatelic organizations.

In 2008, Nancy received the APS Luff Award for Exceptional Contributions to Philately. She received the Georgia Federation of Stamp Clubs Service Award in 1997, the Rowland Hill Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southeastern Federation of Stamp Clubs in 2005, the Ernest Kehr Award from the American Philatelic Society in 2006, the Clyde Jennings Award from the Errors Freaks and Oddities Collectors Club in 2006, the 2016 York Bridell Award from the Universal Ship Cancellation Society, and the Neinken Medal from the Philatelic Foundation in 2018.

For her philatelic exhibits she received six international golds, national golds for postal history, postal stationery, illustrated mail and thematic classes, and single frame national platinums for postal history and postal stationery.

Whether mentoring, exhibiting, writing, running youth areas, or serving philatelic organizations, Nancy always brought a positive and responsible approach to philately. She was a trailblazer for women in the hobby and will be greatly missed.

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