Nancy Yost

          On May 8, 2014, Nancy Schlack Yost, 88, passed on precisely as she lived, with grace and good friends.  She was well known and still remembered for her lovely Piccadilly Street gift shop, The Colonial Art and Craft, which she owned and operated for 25 years.

Nancy was the daughter of the late Amos and Ethelene Schlack of Winchester.  She was preceded in death by the early passing (1970) of her husband, Jacob Yost, Jr., Winchester, VA, and her sister, Betty Schlack Blodgett of Sequim, WA.

Surviving are her three children, Mary Kennedy Yost, Jacob “Rocky” Yost, III, and Edwin B. Yost, all of Winchester, VA and four grandchildren, Katie Prenelle of Myrtle Beach, SC, Jack Yost IV, Winchester, VA, Meredith Yost of Lincoln, NE and CeCe Yost of New York City.

Other surviving family members include her brother-in-law, Warren Blodgett of Sequim, WA, her niece, Nancy Sue Meisenhelder, Encinitas, CA and her family, husband Victor and daughter Sonya, also of Encinitas, and son Ross of San Francisco, CA.  Also surviving is a brother-in-law, Alex (Tom) Thompson of Indio, CA and niece, Lisa Copeland of Palm Springs, CA along with her cousin, Mary Lou Koontz, of Smithburg, MD, and formerly Apple Pie Ridge, Winchester.

Nancy graduated from Newport News High School and Richmond Professional Institute (now VCU).  She married her husband, Jake, after WWII and worked in Washington at Hecht’s, a department store and then Woodward and Lothrop as an artist and model.  When Nancy and Jake returned to Winchester, she continued working as an artist for several years before becoming a downtown retail merchant where she was an active member of the Downtown Merchants Association.  She was also a member of the Henry Evans Home Board of Directors, the C&S Bank Advisory Board, The Little Garden Club, the First Presbyterian Church and a Charter Member of the Meredith Green Wednesday Afternoon Poker Club.

Nancy’s Colonial Art and Craft store was a beautiful mixture of shopping and fun.  She liked to call it a “big girl’s toy store” where as a young child she helped her Aunt Mary Schlack, a clerk in that very same store, which she would excitedly buy and successfully operate decades later.  She loved her family, was a loyal friend to many and will be very much missed.

There will be a Memorial Service conducted at Westminster Canterbury on Tuesday, May 13 at 1:00 PM, with Reverend Elizabeth Lewis officiating.  In lieu of flowers, Nancy asked that a donation be sent to the Henry and William Evans Home for Children, 330 Leicester St., Winchester, VA 22601.

There will be a private Graveside Service at Mount Hebron Cemetery.

Arrangements are being handled by Omps Funeral Home, Amherst Chapel, Winchester, Virginia.