Nancy K. Kaufmann

Nancy Kay Kaufmann, 82, died of a sudden-onset heart condition on Jan. 18 at a hospital in Milwaukee, WI. She was born Nov. 8, 1941 to Orville B. and Lela E. (Avery) Kaufmann in rural Fort Wayne, IN. She was a 1959 graduate of Roanoke High School.

After graduating from Indiana University, she moved with her first husband, David Keller, to Germany, where he was stationed with the U.S. Army. A determined intellectual, having already successfully campaigned for a Latin class at her rural high school, she proceeded to teach herself German and seek out friends in the town surrounding the army base.

In 1968, she graduated with a master's degree in social work from the University of Chicago. After several years as a social worker, including challenging work with traumatic brain injury patients at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, she left the field in the 1970s. She worked for an international exchange program, volunteered at the Glessner House, an architecturally important national historic landmark in Chicago, and wrote a regular column in the Hyde Park Herald about the intersection of architecture, philosophy and anthropology in the southside neighborhood.

Nancy loved to cook and entertain. In 1978, after operating a successful falafel stand at Chicago parks and festivals, she started her own vegetarian catering service, eventually running it out of a storefront on Sheffield Avenue in the Wrigleyville neighborhood. Inspired by Frances Moore Lappé's book "Diet For A Small Planet" and the growing environmental movement, Small Planet Catering fed everyone from wedding parties to touring bands. For years, Nancy also served free Thanksgiving dinners with two to three seatings to anyone in the community who didn't have a place to go.

Small Planet was groundbreaking for its time. When a Chicago Sun-Times reporter asked her in 1978, "Are 'natural foods' a passing fancy...?" Nancy responded, "That's like asking me if the peace movement of the '60s is dead. In my heart I hope not, but I think unless people are willing to make a real change in their lives, it's a passing fad. Natural foods is more than a way of eating. It's a life-style. In order to live with it you have to be willing to make some fundamental changes in yours."

In 1986, she closed Small Planet and moved to Madison, WI, where she continued raising her family. She homeschooled her daughter, worked in the local library system, and continued studying German.

In 2001, after obtaining her ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching certification, Nancy moved to Berlin, Germany, and taught English to adults until 2008, then returned to the north side of Chicago. Her years in Berlin were some of the happiest of her life.

She also taught herself to speak Hindi as part of her interest in Indian cuisines and languages. Nancy was a woman of strong intelligence, curiosity and character. She traveled frequently. Trips to Guyana, including one in 1980 with her second husband, Nick Cisar, left a lasting impression. She also made annual trips to India and Pakistan in the last 15 years of her life. At home in Chicago in her later years, she enjoyed volunteering and giving tours in the Ancient Americas exhibits at the Field Museum.

In 2021, Nancy moved to Milwaukee to live in a duplex with her daughter and be the proud "nani-ji" ("granny" in Hindi) and nanny to her grandchildren Morris and Zora. Until her final days, she attended lectures, went birding, watched documentaries, read voraciously, wrote the occasional poem, and practiced yoga daily. In recent months, distraught at the loss of life, she attended protests calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war.

Into her 80s, she walked or took the bus everywhere. Following the principle of "think globally, act locally," she found satisfaction in "trashing" (cleaning up litter and finding occasional treasures) around the neighborhood. She valued good bread, strong coffee, and long conversations.

Nancy is survived by her daughter, Katjusa Cisar (Ben Trier), son Peter Keller (Shanee Edwards), and grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Ann. Nancy made a lasting impression on those in her life and will continue to be loved, and deeply missed.

A private family burial for Nancy will take place at Natural Path Sanctuary in Verona, WI.