Nancy D. (Taylor) Mount Bumpus

Nancy Davida Bumpus (nee Taylor, formerly Mount)

Nancy often maintained she lived in the best time to be alive. Certainly, her life was unlike any generation before, along with her share of triumphs and heartbreak.

She was born June 11, 1938 in Youngstown, Ohio at the end of the Great Depression and the dawn of World War II. When her father Wilmer left to serve in the Army, she and her mother Helen moved to the family farm in Cambridge where she grew up as a typical tomboy farmgirl.

Nancy loved animals. She made a pet out of any creature she could. As a teenager she tamed a pair of crows, and “ruined” several of her dad’s hunting dogs by making them pets. There was always a cat or a dog in her life.

As the oldest child, and only girl with three younger brothers, she had a tough time meeting her dad’s expectations. She often spent long periods at the McCormick farm helping her Aunt Alice Ruth and Uncle Lyle raise their four daughters, Janet, Jane, Joy and Jo Ellen. And she spent lots of time with her namesake grandmother Nancy and grandfather Walter on the Taylor farm. But mostly she was with her Dad & Mom and brothers Robert ,Jack, and Gary, Grandma Ora, and Grandpa Harry Reasoner on the old Reasoner farm, and in the home her parents built on the farm in 1952.

She graduated from New Concord High School in 1956 at the peak of post-war car culture, and she loved her first car, a Plymouth sedan in two-tone Tampa Turquoise. She loved driving the twisty, hilly country roads. It took her to jobs at the Champion spark plug factory, and later to General Telephone company as an operator.

She met her husband Philip (Bud) Forshey (Mount) after an introduction by his sister Carol Jane. When they wed in November 1960, she was 22 and he was 19, a Private in the Army. He was often away in the early years, and he was stationed in Germany when her first son Philip Jr. was born in August 1961.

Nancy and Bud lived a nomadic life for the next few years. Returning home from the Army, Bud tried selling life insurance in Zanesville but gave that up when their second son Patrick was born in 1964. They were lean times, full of stress. Bud’s dad worked at General Motors Locomotive and was able to get Bud a job as a service mechanic delivering new locomotives to customer sites all over the country. So for two years Nancy and the boys followed Bud from city to city for a few weeks at a time, alone in efficiency hotels all day trying to keep the boys occupied. When Phil Jr started first grade in 1967, they returned to Cambridge. She kept busy while Bud travelled by selling Avon door to door and earned several sales awards including a diamond pin.

A job transfer with GM took the family to Albany, New York in 1969. They bought a travel trailer and had great fun camping in the Catskills, Finger Lakes and Adirondak Mountains of upstate New York. Neighbors and great friends the Shepherds were always camping buddies, and virtually every weekend without snow was a time to explore new campgrounds.

Another job transfer in 1971 to the Chicago suburbs meant making new friends and adjusting to a new lifestyle. They sold the now-unused camper, and looked forward to more frequent visits to Ohio, and visits from aging grandmothers who would stay for a few weeks at a time. Nancy’s time was spent at home being a mom and taking up needlepoint as a hobby.

A change in employers by Bud came with another big move, to Boise, Idaho in 1975. The whole family was excited by the change, and they bought a new home in a brand-new golf course development carved out of the desert, surrounded by sagebrush. Nancy was the flower that bloomed in that desert.

Golf became Nancy’s new passion, and the community of neighbors became life-long friends. Nancy became the Ladies Club Champion four times and served on the association board. The years she spent in the Indian Lake neighborhood, surrounded by her golfing buddies, were some of her happiest.

Nancy also enjoyed being able to be in the mountains again. She particularly loved snowmobiling on the trails and logging roads, and she was a speed demon, always riding faster than the group, but was usually discovered a few minutes later stuck in a snowbank after taking a turn too fast, needing help pulling out the machine.

And Nancy loved the water. The 16 foot ski boat (Named “Bitch, Bitch Bitch” by Bud) purchased after arriving in Idaho was later traded in on a 26 foot cabin cruiser. Nancy loved the trips to Lake Powell, the Snake and Columbia Rivers, and especially to the San Juan Islands north of Seattle where a Boise flotilla would island-hop for two weeks, fishing for salmon, crabbing, and digging clams. The evening communal dinners were epic.

But the good times ended as the decade rolled to the 80s. Bud’s business failed in the recession, and the stress was too much. In the spring of 1983 Nancy and Bud divorced, her father Wilmer died unexpectantly, Patrick graduated from high school, and her brother Gary was married. Nancy started a new life, moving from Boise to Titusville, Florida to stay with her mom, Helen.

Nancy began meeting new people, and one day her friend Barbara told her “You may think I’m crazy, but you should meet my ex-husband. He’s a great guy, we just can’t be married.” Nancy and Warren Bumpus were married a year later, and they were deeply in love. Tragically, three years later, Warren was diagnosed with cancer on Memorial Day and passed away on Labor Day. Nancy was devastated and bore those emotional scars until she died. But her life was now in Florida, and she was determined to stay.

Nancy became an entrepreneur after having to foreclose on the contract she carried after trying to sell the home she and Warren shared. The buyers stripped the home of everything valuable when they left, leaving her with an empty shell. But it gave her the opportunity to renovate the home as an adult family care home to take in tenants that needed assistance. And so she created Dixie Retreat, a business that provided her both a good income and a new community of friends. Nancy ran the business until after turning 65, when her mother Helen had passed away. It was time for a return to Boise, where her sons and granddaughter lived.

Nancy moved back to Indian Lake into a home on the golf course she had visited many times and recently purchased by Phil Jr. She enjoyed getting re-established in familiar surroundings and re-connecting with old friends. After 10 years, she felt too isolated and decided to move into an independent living facility, Chateau de Boise. She became an ambassador, welcoming new residents, and loved her new community. And that apartment was her home for 10 years until her final hospitalization.

Nancy enjoyed travelling and took two notable trips abroad. In 1978, Nancy, Bud and the boys visited Bogota, Colombia where Indian Lake neighbors and friends Barry & Jeanne Minich had been transferred. It was her first international trip, and she was fascinated during the three weeks spent exploring this exotic country. In 1995 she visited her son Phil at his home in Germany and spent two weeks visiting the sights she never expected to see. She was fascinated by Prague and Dresden, delighted in Innsbruck, loved Oktoberfest, and so enjoyed Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and of course Paris where she stayed at the Hotel Georges V, and dined in Michelin-rated restaurants. Her suitcases going home were stuffed full of treasures!

Nancy’s health took a turn during the pandemic years. She suffered from cardiac, pulmonary, and kidney issues resulting in restricted mobility. Nancy was hospitalized seven times in her last 18 months. She suffered a stroke in April and passed away a few days later. Nancy died on April 20, 2026 at the age of 87.

Nancy is survived by her sons Philip Mount Jr and Patrick Mount, his wife Phyllis, and their daughter Rachel, and brothers Robert Taylor and wife Mary, and Gary Taylor and wife Lianne, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. She is also survived by step-son Stuart Bumpus and his children Andrea & Matt and their families.

Friends and family are welcome to gather from 12 PM to 1 PM on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at the Farus Funeral Home of New Concord. A memorial will take place at 1 PM. Pastor Tim Pollock will officiate the service. Interment at Bloomfield Presbyterian Church Cemetery will follow immediately afterward.

www.farusfh.com