Obituary of Nancy Lee Yaremich

Nancy Lee Yaremich, who passed away at midnight on April 5, 2025, navigated this world with one prevailing mission: to make others happy. Born on August 24, 1951, the angels down-poured ladles of compassion into Nancy’s soul that, throughout her 73 years, she lovingly spoon-fed to her family, friends, and the hundreds of patients she deeply cared for throughout her 45 years as a registered nurse. This lifelong Trumbull resident started wearing her heart on her sleeve at an early age, helping her mother, Dorothy Provenzano, care for her four younger siblings after, at 14 years old and just entering St. Joseph High School from St. Theresa Elementary School, her father, Joseph, became paralyzed. She coupled her childhood caregiving skills with a professional bedside manner upon graduating from St. Vincent Hospital School of Nursing in 1972. From there, she fought for the dignity, respect, and best medical treatment she felt each and every patient entrusted to her care absolutely deserved. Every patient was important because she saw them for their good hearts, whether they came to her while she served as a cardiology nurse on St. Vincent’s Intensive Care Unit, as an R.N. at cardiologist Dr. Wallace Lebowitz’s private practice in Bridgeport, or for the nearly two decades she served as the head nurse at CT DMHAS Southwest Community Mental Health Center until her September 2017 retirement.

But it wasn’t essential to be a patient in order to receive the loving wrath that earned Nancy the Nurse of the Year award in the twilight of her career --- just ask her one true love and husband of 52 years, Walter Yaremich. For 58 years (after she first dissed him at a high school dance at 15 years old), she proved to Walter that family was everything to her and she would sacrifice anything to make him - and later their two children and their five grandchildren - beyond absolutely happy. She made every birthday and holiday special; continued listening to you long after others stopped; and never judged your decisions (unless you chose to encroach on her bread or brownie stash, and then - although small of stature - she’d unleash a feisty fury that would make her Sicilian ancestors proud). The best part about Nancy is she didn’t want anything in return, truly. It was a bonus to her if you made her laugh, reciprocated pleasantries, or just spent time with her because you liked spending time with her and she, you. When she took the rare moment to do something for herself, she could be found reading on her Nook, crocheting, enjoying the smell of sunflowers and basil leaves, writing To-Do lists in her typewriter-perfect penmanship or, most often, plotting out the next kind thing to do for someone else, especially for her five grandchildren, Colton, Bennett, Mairyn, Tessa, and Walter Jr.

This classic, pure soul of a woman was predeceased by her parents, Dorothy and Joseph Provenzano, of Trumbull, and her partner-in-crime sister Bonnie Provenzano (They’re bound to create trouble in Heaven together!). Her legacy and love will survive through her currently heartbroken husband Walter, of Trumbull, son Walter of Bridgeport, daughter Marissa of Macungie, PA, her sister Laura Panettiere (Paul), of Trumbull, and brothers Joseph Provenzano of Milford and Paul Provenzano (Cindee) of Florida, her cherished grandchildren, as well as many beloved nieces and nephews, extended family, and friends.

Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. directly in St. Theresa’s Church, 5301 Main St., Trumbull. Interment will follow in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Trumbull. Friends may greet the family on Monday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Road, Trumbull, CT.  To leave an online condolence, please visit us at www.abriola.com