Nancy took great joy in competence—her own and that of others—and adroitly mastered everything she did. Her know-how and take-charge attitude always made us feel protected and cared for. When our family went skiing in Snowmass, Colorado a few years ago, it was Nancy who made the trip a joy for us all by making all the arrangements, from the airline reservations, to the S.U.V. that was waiting for us at the airport, to navigating us through the many ski trails on the mountains. That’s how she did everything: whether work or play, she knew what had to be done, and she did it flawlessly.

Nancy also kept us on our toes. We would often have to make a mad dash to the airport to catch a plane for some distant skiing trip minutes after a holiday or after the Sabbath was over. One time early in her biking career, she called in the middle of the night needing help with a flat tire on her bike before a 6 A.M. race. On yet another night, we heard a pickup truck drive up our driveway with a few of her injured cyclist friends after an accident during a race at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Nancy needed help driving them to the nearest emergency room. There was never a dull moment with Nancy.

Nancy brought to our lives a thing most precious to parents: honor. She brought honor to us not only through her accomplishments, but also by the way she achieved them. Many of the letters we received ended with words like, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to know Nancy.” When walking into a roomful of her friends or when talking to them over the phone, we would sense the respect in their voices because they were talking to Nancy’s parents.

Who was Nancy Morgenstern? The answer to this question is best answered by Nancy’s friends. Rather than read our words, read theirs. They were the ones who interacted with her on a daily basis and bore witness to all the facets of her personality and character. They were the ones who more than anybody knew what made her tick.

One of Nancy’s friends wrote, “I admired her for many things. But most of all, she was a good friend, a loyal friend, and a solid person. The two of us drove to a mutual friend’s wedding in the pouring rain. Nancy and I weren’t even so close with this person anymore, but she felt that it was the right thing to do. She was right. We went to the wedding and many of the people were absent because of the poor weather conditions. We were both glad we went.”