Obituary of Nancy Jean Offer

Nancy was born in Denver, CO and raised in San Mateo, CA by her kind parents Alice and Marcus Leh, and graduated from UC Berkeley earning a BA in History.  She began her early career in office management in the SF Bay area.  Nancy and Henry Offer married on Dec. 30, 1978 and she then moved to San Jose, CA and they had two delightful sons, Nathaniel and Caleb.  They soon relocated to the Santa Cruz, CA mountains to design and handcraft their mountaintop home above the redwood forests.  

While raising their wonderful sons with Henry, Nancy also established her Best Offer Accounting practice in the SF Bay area.  Driven by her love of teaching children and young adults, she began teaching at Lakeside Elementary School, and later at Los Gatos High School for another 20 years.  Her programs at Los Gatos High focused on personal responsibility, leadership skills, and student-peer training of students, using the Reality Check Newsletters, Freshman Skills Days, and Peer-to-Peer Education programs to help students identify, communicate, and achieve their personal, career, and life goals.  Nancy’s leadership of these unique programs enabled them to win the California School Board’s coveted Golden Bell Award for educational excellence. 

Nancy’s devotion to helping students for the twenty years in which she established and taught her programs led to great admiration for her selfless efforts throughout the school body, which overflowed into the community.  Nancy then retired from teaching in 2017 to focus more on the community’s social needs.  Her special school programs are now being led by caring students, parents, and devoted friends of Los Gatos High. 

Nancy also loved to read thoughtful books and care for orchids and wild flowers, but most of all she loved to spend special time with her family, current and past school students, and many community friends and church associates whom she all held very dear.  Driven by her firm passion for her faith, family, and friends, Nancy was a strong advocate for personal compassion, respect for all, and social justice in the school, the community and beyond.  She lived each day with utmost integrity to quietly exemplify those goals, and easily inspired others to actively join her sharing this generous, loving, and open spirit with everyone.    

Nancy and Henry very gratefully celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary together in December 2017. 

Nancy bravely fought a rare cancer for well over a year until it finally took all her bodily strength, but it could never overcome her wondrously generous and wise spirit, and her smiling, heartfelt care and love for all.  

Nancy is survived by her loving family- her husband Henry Offer, brother Marcus Leh, sons Caleb and Nathaniel Offer, daughter-in-law Tia, and their inspiring grand-daughter Chloe. 

There will be a memorial service and fellowship celebration honoring Nancy’s life of loving service to others, at Los Gatos United Methodist Church, 111 Church St., at 2:00 pm on Saturday, Feb. 2.  All are very cordially invited.  

Nancy’s Obituary, and Tributes by friends can be posted and seen on www.pacificgardenschapel.com.  

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Nancy’s favorite local charities including Live Oak Senior Nutrition and Services Center, Second Harvest Food Bank, and Habitat for Humanity.