Nancy R. (Rapp) Cronin, 87, of Concord, MA passed away peacefully at her home on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, surrounded by her adoring family and held in the loving embrace of her friends and community. Born in 1934 and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, Nancy was the only child of the late Dorothy (Irwin) Rapp and the late Theodore A. Rapp. She attended Strong Vincent High School in Erie, graduated from Allegheny College, and received a master's degree in English from the University of Michigan. Following her graduate studies, Nancy taught at the middle and high school level. She married the late Roger K. Evans of Harborcreek, PA and they moved to Cambridge, MA, where they lived when their beloved daughter Eleanor was born. While in Cambridge, Nancy worked as a research assistant at Harvard University. Her marriage to Roger ended in divorce. In the years that followed, she met and married the late John F. Cronin, who helped introduce her to Concord, where they subsequently settled and where she made her home for 45 years, with ever-deepening appreciation for the town's natural beauty, rich history, and engaged community. Nancy's career included extensive service in state and local government, first as an aide to the late Massachusetts State Senator William L. Saltonstall, next with the Commonwealth's Energy Office and then for the Town of Concord as Assistant-Treasurer/Collector and for many years as Town Clerk. Nancy's home in Conantum and many walking routes and trails within and near Concord were the site of countless gatherings of family, friends, neighbors, and fellow community members seeking to make the world more equitable, just, and compassionate. Up until the very end of her life, Nancy participated regularly and enthusiastically in the First Parish Church of Concord and a number of its committees, the League of Women Voters of Concord-Carlisle, the Concord Tax Fairness Committee, the Concord Housing Foundation, Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education's Village University, Concord After 60 walking group, and Concord Indivisible. For the last decade, she was a much-valued member of a monthly supper group that explores the intersection of faith and justice. She was also previously active in Concord's Democratic Town Committee and the Concord Land Conservation Trust. Nancy was an active, consistent, and loving presence in her grandchildren's lives and took delight in time and travel with her family, as they did with her. She loved being outside in nature, in the woods and tending her own garden or visiting others. She also loved dogs – even or especially wet ones – and living creatures of all kinds. She had a passion for listening to live music in diverse venues – and always with friends. She had a ranging curiosity, voraciously consumed two major newspapers daily, and read broadly to deepen her understanding of the world and how to make it a better place. Nancy was predeceased by her cherished friend and fellow life adventurer of many years, the late Herbert E. Goldberg, with whom she traveled extensively and frequently shared the warm fellowship of his family and his residential community at Newbury Court in Concord. Herb's family became part of her own and remained so in the years following his death. Nancy is survived by her loving and devoted daughter, Eleanor Evans and her husband David Montgomery and their children Aaron and Julia, all of Needham, MA, and by Herb's sons and their wives, Dwight and Helaine Golann of Newton, MA, and Bret Golann and Debbie Light of Hinesburg, VT, and their children David, Aspen, Colden and Skye, as well as Roger's children Emily Evans Lyons of Beverly, MA and Stephen Evans of Salem, MA. She is also survived by many other extended family members and beloved friends whom she inspired, organized, and attended to throughout a life well lived and well loved. A memorial service in celebration of Nancy's life will be held on Saturday, May 21st at 11 am at First Parish, 20 Lexington Road, Concord, MA. Family and friends are warmly invited. To attend the service remotely via church livestream, please activate the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85791732705 . A private burial will be held separately at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Nancy's family thanks her many close friends and neighbors for the loving friendship they shared with her over the years and for the devoted care and attention they demonstrated in her final days. In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Nancy's spirit by taking time to volunteer in your community, by taking walks to appreciate nature and deepen relationships with others, and/or by donating in Nancy's memory to Open Table, Inc. in Maynard, MA, to the Concord Housing Trust (or other organization advancing affordable housing in your community) or to any organization you think would have resonated with her. Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.