Nancy Martinez Washburn

Nancy Washburn Nancy Washburn, 72, of Tempe, AZ passed away on September 4, 2024 after a long illness. She was at home with her family at her side. 

Nancy was born November 24, 1951 in Phoenix, AZ at the Good Samaritan Hospital to Maria and Ernesto Martinez. Growing up in Phoenix, she graduated from North High School in 1969 and then attended Maricopa Technical College. In 1972, she joined the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), led by Cesar Chavez, to work on recalling then-Governor Jack Williams. On that campaign, she met UFW organizer, Scott Washburn, and the two quickly fell in love. Soon their work took them to Chicago to organize the UFW's Grape Boycott. In October 1973, they returned to Phoenix where they married. 

The next year, the UFW assigned Nancy and Scott to begin a new organizing campaign in San Diego, California. That was where the two welcomed Camilia, the first of their six children. Subsequent organizing campaigns and other union duties took them all over the west, including La Paz (headquarters of the UFW), Keene, San Ysidro, Santa Maria, Bakersfield, Oakland, Pomona and La Puente in California, as well as Cleveland, Ohio, and Dallas, Texas. In each new location, Nancy created a warm and welcoming home for her growing family. 

After leaving the UFW Nancy spent many years as a classroom volunteer, a teacher's aide and as a caregiver to a family member. In the early 2000s the family moved to Tempe, Arizona and when she and Scott retired in 2017, she took great pleasure in doting on her seven grandchildren, occasional travel, walks in Tempe's Desert Botanical Gardens and watching the Phoenix Suns with her friends and neighbors. 

Nancy could put together a planned Super Bowl party or an impromptu gathering of friends and colleagues with equal skill. She was a gracious host and a terrific cook who made sure everyone had plenty of great food, drinks and laughs. 

Her devotion to family, education and workers rights are her legacy to her children, many of whom have continued to work for those same social justice causes - and who will undoubtedly inspire the generation of Washburn grandchildren who are growing up today. 

Nancy Washburn was predeceased by her parents and is survived by her husband Scott, sister Mary Lou Navarro, brother Ernesto Martinez, her 6 children, Camilia, Simon, Rebekah, Hannah, Ira, Maria and by 7 grandchildren.