Nancy Kay (Lambert) Emmert

Nancy Kay Lambert Emmert, age 86, went to her heavenly home on April 10, 2023.  She died at her home in Coleman, Texas after a long hospital stay.

Nancy was born in Kirksville, Missouri on July 22, 1936, to Frank L. “Guffy” Lambert and Marilia S. Lambert.  The family moved to Ulysses, Kansas where Nancy attended School.  She graduated from Grant County Rural High School.  She attended Northeast Missouri State University, and after college, Nancy moved to Kansas City, Missouri to work for Dr. Albert Upsher at Upsher Labs.  Several years later, she bought the lab supply part of that business and renamed it Clinical Lab Supply.

Nancy married John Emmert, the love of her life.  John was an engineer who specialized in the construction of refineries and gas processing plants all over the world.  They lived in California, Africa, and Siberia, among other places.  John loved the game of golf, so Nancy learned to play.  She and John played golf around the globe including at St. Andrews in Scotland.

After the death of her husband, Nancy bought a house in Coleman in late 1996 and moved to Coleman from Midland.  It was our good fortune that she chose Coleman, but she would never explain why she came here.  Quoting Winston Churchill, Nancy was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”  There was an on-going battle of wits with her friends who tried to weasel information out of her about her life before Coleman.  One friend always introduced Nancy by saying “Don’t ask Nancy anything about her previous life.  She’s in the witness protection program and can’t tell you anything.”

Nancy was extremely knowledgeable about the rules of parliamentary procedure and the Texas Open Meeting Act.  For years she attended all official meetings of the City of Coleman, including City Council and Economic Development, armed with her notebook, pen, and tape recorder.  She was not bashful about voicing her opinion if an official rule of civic meetings was not followed.  These meetings were sometimes unnecessarily long, and Nancy’s phrase to describe them was “endless nattering.”

One of Nancy’s many gifts was encouraging others to recognize and use their strengths.  She was a shining example of independence and self confidence with wit and humor added in.  She could ““read” people accurately, and very little got past her.

Nancy was a key member of the small group that started the revitalization of downtown Coleman in 2013.  That group’s informal weekly meetings took place for at least 12 years and lasted from two to five hours each.  The last meeting she attended was in January of this year, shortly before her final illness.

We are all better for having known her.  Although she was physically tiny, she leaves a huge empty hole in our lives and our town.  To sum it up, Nancy was a dynamo in a small package, a force of nature, a brilliant mind with a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue.  It’s easy to imagine her in a 1950’s black-and-white movie with Humphrey Bogart saying, “What a dame!”

Nancy is preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Rebecca Lambert; and her brother, Carl “Butch” Lambert.

She is survived by her brother Frank Lambert and wife Debby of Marietta, Oklahoma; sister-in-law, Marilyn Lambert of Fresno, California; nephews, Paul Lambert, Aaron Lambert, and Jeremy Lambert; nieces, Dr. Franki Lambert-Smith and Suzanne Ledbetter; and cousin, Chuck Martin and wife Mary Kay of Marietta, Oklahoma.

The family requests with gratitude that memorials in memory of Nancy be given to a charity of the donor’s choice.

At Nancy’s request no service will be held.

We invite you to share fond memories and words of comfort and condolence with the Emmert family by signing the virtual guestbook on Nancy’s tribute page at www.stevensfuneralhome.com.  Arrangements are entrusted to Stevens Funeral Home, 400 W. Pecan Street, in Coleman.