Nancy was the wife of the late Herbert Scott Burns Jr., who died in 1991. She was the daughter of the late John W. and Minnie C. Mallinson. Born on December 20, 1929 in Independence, Missouri, she graduated from Missouri State University and went on to do graduate work at the University of Kansas and Towson State University. She began a teaching career in Jefferson City, Missouri, and later taught at the Harford Day School in Bel Air, Maryland and Folger McKinsey Elementary School in Severna Park. All told she taught over 500 kindergarten students in Anne Arundel County.

She met her husband at a USO dance in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and married in 1954, moving to Maryland the same year. She is survived by two sons, William Scott Burns of Severna Park and Daniel Keith Burns of Las Vegas Nevada, her brother, Donald Mallinson of Hutchinson, Minnesota, her sister, Mary Ruth Tompkins of Fort Worth, Texas, her grandchildren, Erin, Jeremy and Caroline and two great grandchildren, Ryan and James.

Nancy was a very active member of the Severn River Lions Club and a member of the Severna Park Methodist Church. Friends and family are invited to attend a memorial service on Friday, October 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Barranco & Sons Severna Park Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Highway. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions made be made to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.