Nancy Wilson Ives
“All through my life I have received many blessings, and I was privileged to have a loving family, many friends, and a very wide variety of experiences. I have had a wonderful life.” Nancy was the middle child of three daughters born to Edna and Craig Wilson in Palmdale, CA., where the Wilsons owned and operated a large, integrated chicken farm. In summers, the girls worked in the processing plant, picking chickens, cutting them up, or in the hatchery, or vaccinating chickens out in the barns. When Nancy was twenty-three, her parents, her aunt, and two friends flew in the family airplane to see the first Wilson grandson in Oregon. Due to engine failure, her dad made an emergency landing that resulted in the death of everyone in the plane.
Nancy earned her BA from Long Beach State University and an MS degree from USC. She taught Home Economics in Long Beach Middle Schools. Nancy and her husband learned to sail and wanted to make a long voyage. In 1964, they started out for what was intended to be a European boat-buying trip, beginning in Tokyo. After visiting a number of Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong yacht builders, they had a 38’ wooden sailboat built in Taipei, Taiwan, and planned to sail it to Long Beach. However, the yacht couldn’t be properly outfitted for a long sail, so the yacht was shipped to CA, where it was finished and sold. They quickly sold three, similar yachts, and returned to Taipei to build them, which led to starting their own company, Transpacific Marine Co. Ltd. They never bought a yacht in Europe or sailed across an ocean, but they did sail to Hong Kong and Okinawa with their customers.
Nancy began teaching Home Economics in the Taipei American School in 1969. After a separation from her husband in 1972, she stopped teaching and started buying and selling memorabilia from old ships that were scrapped in Southern Taiwan. For seven years, Nancy greatly enjoyed monthly trips to the ship breakers, buying all kinds of decorative and functional treasures, such as navigation lights, steering wheels, silver-plated serving dishes, etc., for sale to U.S. buyers. Taiwan ship scrapping ended in 1977, eliminating her supply source. Nancy resumed working in her yacht-building company and continued to jointly lead the company until her retirement in 2007. The Iveses divorced in Taiwan in 1979, but continued to work together, with their Chinese partner, Mary Chou, until Ennals Ives died of cancer in 2006 in Taiwan.
During the forty-three years Nancy lived in Taiwan and China, life was full of surprises, challenges, and great satisfaction. During the operation of the yacht building business, a number of unusual experiences caused deep sorrow and dismay, including the separate deaths of two excellent carpenters; a fire that completely destroyed the boatyard and
offices, including yachts under construction and all materials and supplies; different typhoons flooded the factory and their homes to a depth of several feet. The boatyard’s roof blew away in another raging typhoon, and so on. Some finished yachts were severely or totally destroyed in trucking or loading accidents, while trying to safely reach the decks of shipping vessels for their export.
Conversely, there were also the pleasure & joy of attending the weddings of many employees and friends and watching their families grow. The weddings, New Year’s celebrations and other festivals were the reasons for countless, unique and delicious dining experiences.
Rising costs and yacht-moving difficulties caused the operation to relocate from Taiwan to Beilun, in north eastern China, in 1997, where the company bought a new condominium. We spent a lot of time in Beilun and enjoyed short trips to Shanghai while our yachts were being built. The business continued there until 2008, when the company’s last yacht was exported.
Hearing the first thrilling sounds of the roar of powerful diesel engines was an eagerly awaited event in every yacht, as was making the final inspection of the beautifully finished, teak and fiberglass surfaces. The Transpac Co. felt great pride that two of its Transpac 49’ sailboats made circumnavigations and others made ocean crossings.
Nancy felt that by starting a small business in a new industry, and training many workers and suppliers, she & her partners had made a small, but valuable contribution to the growth and economic success of both Taiwan and China. They also contributed to the friendship, understanding and respect between these countries’ people.
Speaking Mandarin Chinese enabled Nancy to travel independently in Taiwan and China which was a great joy and an asset. Being active as a Deacon and Elder, for t\venty four years, in an English-speaking, Taipei, Presbyterian Church, provided spiritual guidance and comfort in many difficult circumstances, as well as close friendships. God surely protected Nancy in many challenging situations.
In spite of the many uncertainties of life in Taiwan, Nancy remained an optimist. She was adventurous and liked to try new things. She enjoyed learning and greatly enjoyed wandering around small shops in Taipei and talking to the shop owners. She was a joyful person, and found pleasures in friendships, in entertaining, in gardening, in making clothes and quilting, in reading, cooking and watching TV.
Nancy was generous in supporting numerous charities, and scholarships. She funded six college scholarships, including one for a seminary student from the First Presbyterian Church of Boise; two for STEM students at Boise State University; one at the University of Idaho for a student majoring in Family and Consumer Sciences and two for medical students at Idaho College of Medicine.
Nancy traveled to many national parks and major cities with her family in their Navion plane, to Canada and to Cuba. She both flew and drove with her older sister to a number of Mexican cities. She reached Europe, once aboard a large passenger ship, and once by plane. She flew to Brazil and visited Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo. Flying to Taiwan from the U.S. and back to the U.S. included many visits to Japan and Hong Kong. She traveled through Southeast Asia and visited many Chinese cities.
Nancy retired in 2007 and moved from Taiwan to Boise, Idaho, where her sister, Harriet Calverley, and her husband Paul lived. One of their sons, Steve and family lived in Boise, and other son, Tom and family, lived in Portland, OR.
Nancy was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church, and participated in many of its activities, including its choir, quilting group, food pantry, meal preparations, the endowment committee and other groups.
Nancy was a member of: The Assistance League of Boise, the Merry Tiller’s Garden Club, a Women’s Investment Group, a bridge group, and the American Association of University Women. She greatly enjoyed living in Boise and especially enjoyed the seasonal weather changes.