Dear Mr. and Mrs. Morgenstern,

I wanted to write to tell you that I had the pleasure of knowing your daughter. She was a wonderful person. I have been having a hard time writing this because I am not sure I can express just how amazing she was.

They say that first impressions last forever. I am glad they do. I first met Nancy two years ago during a race. I had just started racing and was not sure of what I was doing. I went out in the beginning of the race much too hard and then just exhausted myself. I was going to bail out of the race, since I was feeling so terrible.

Then I met Nancy. She rode up beside me and said she would help me. First she told me to grab onto her wheel. I told her I did not think I could hold on but she said, “That’s ridiculous. You’ve gotten this far in the race. You can hold on to the end.” And so I did. For the remainder of the race she kept telling me how great I was doing, and letting me know how much farther we had and that I was awesome. At the very end of the race it came to a sprint finish and Nancy just yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” So I did and came in ahead of everyone! Nancy gave me her energy and drive. She made me feel like I could move mountains that day.

That was my first impression of her and as time went on it got better and better. I loved racing with her . . . she made me laugh even when we were supposed to be “racing seriously.”

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to know Nancy. Please know that Nancy touched the hearts of a lot of people; she was an amazing person. I will miss her very, very much.

Jenny Olbrich