When Nanci Oliva Bond of Williamsburg passed away at age 84, she left a legacy.
Nanci and her late husband, Robert Bond, a retired college professor, were transplants from California. They adopted Williamsburg as their beloved hometown, and Nanci, a lifetime activist, devoted herself to make Williamsburg a better place to live in and more accessible to tourists.
It was at a coffeehouse conversation among some Williamsburg old-timers that the subject came up about how the old decrepit Williamsburg train depot was transformed into a welcoming center for visitors arriving by train or bus.
Some remembered that it was a woman, a plucky community activist, who through letters to The Virginia Gazette and the Daily Press, as well as unceasing lobbying at City Council meetings, pushed for transforming the train depot into the Williamsburg Transportation Center.
With the help of the editorial support of Bill O’Donovan, a former editor and publisher of the Gazette, the transportation center became a reality.
Nanci and Bob Bond decided that Williamsburg would be an ideal place for them to retire. But they had no plans to busy themselves with the city’s problems.
That is, until Nanci noticed the deplorable conditions of the train depot, a place where visitors gained their first impression of the city.
She also noticed the dangers pedestrians faced crossing roadways. She set out to find remedies.
I once asked Nanci during an interview for the Gazette, what made her into such a dedicated community activist?
“I think, I was always an activist,” she said. “I co-founded a bird club when I was 10 years old.”
During her first marriage, her family moved to Chatsworth, California. Driving to work on the main street through town, Nanci noticed the tree wells were filled with trash and weeds were everywhere.
After returning home from work, she collected her young son, Jim, and equipped with a garden cart, rakes and trash bags, she returned to Main Street to collect the trash. A shop owner asked her, why is she doing such work?
“Because,” she said, “I cannot stand to see such an unsightly mess on my Main Street.”
That sentiment became Nanci’s guiding light.
After she joined the Chatsworth Junior Women’s Club and other local organizations, she became a moving force in projects that focused on beautification and environment, including raising money to install lights at the local high school.
To extend her reach, Nanci wrote letters to the editors of regional papers, bringing their attention to problems residents had to deal with. She attended community meetings and organized task forces.
Nanci’s constructive activism didn’t escape the attention of one of the most powerful members of the Los Angeles County Council. He made her his assistant and gave her a free hand to initiate and support projects with lasting value to the community.
Those included opening hiking trails, creating three large public parks, planting 10,000 baby pine trees and establishing the Rim of the Valley Equestrian Trail.
During one of my interviews with Nanci, I asked her whether she had any ideas about how make New Town the heart of a vibrant community.
“Mr. Rockefeller and his designers came up with the cozy, human scale Merchants Square,” Bond said. “It is a perfect blend of streets, shops, eating places, and offices — a gathering space. Like the famous, popular gathering places in Europe.
“What New Town needs is people spaces and a variety of interesting scenes and activities going on that attract and welcome people. It should be a destination people would say, ‘Let’s go there!’”
Nanci’s son, Jim Oliva, in a letter to her mother’s friends wrote: “I know Nanci doesn’t want any of us to feel sad, but to look up, and think of what next? How high, how far, how best to help and to enjoy the gift of that we all are lucky enough to share.”
Frank Shatz is a Williamsburg resident. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” the compilation of his selected columns. The book is available at the Bruton Parish Shop and Amazon.com.
