Nancy Colbert

Background

Nancy Colbert was born on February 2, 1936, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. She was a daughter of George Shearer and Eleanor A. Shearer, maiden name Dvorak.

Education

Nancy Colbert received an Associate in Arts from Kirkwood Community College in 1976; a Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) from the University of Iowa in 1992.

Career

Nancy Colbert was a homemaker, working for Collins Radio Company as a secretary, 1954-1957; for Kirkwood Community College as a department secretary, 1971-1974; for Kudart & Holmes law firm as a legal secretary, 1974-1981.

Colbert chose as the subject for her first biography - Lou Henry Hoover: The Duty to Serve - the wife of one of the least popular presidents in United States history, Herbert Hoover, who has been criticized for the ineffectual approach to economic recovery after the stock market crash of 1929 that began the Great Depression. She explained why she decided to write about Lou Henry Hoover: "After writing seven middle-grade and young adult novels and not finding a home for any of them at a publishing house, I turned to nonfiction. The first lady of the United States had caught my attention and admiration. Lou Henry Hoover, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, was born and lived part of her childhood in Iowa. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library is at West Branch, Iowa, and is within driving distance of my home. I made the trip many times to research this important woman."

In her second book, The Firing on Fort Sumter: A Splintered Nation Goes to War, Colbert details the events that immediately preceded the onset of the United States Civil War. According to Colbert, The Firing on Fort Sumter: A Splintered Nation Goes to War "was written with a much cooler head but no less impassioned heart because of the story itself. I felt this was a story that needed to be told. The terrible "what if" stood before me as I wrote. Could the Civil War have been averted? If so, how? These are questions for young and older minds to grapple with."

A single individual is at the center of Colbert's third biography for young adults - Great Society: The Story of Lyndon Baines Johnson. The author's focus here is on a president who is remembered for his vision of his country as a "Great Society" and for allowing the United States to become inextricably entangled in the Vietnam War. Colbert presents a portrait of Johnson that takes into account all sides of his personality.

Achievements

• Nancy Colbert devoted her life to family and writing. She wrote three biographical books.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Firing on Fort Sumter: A Splintered Nation Goes to War

    (Recounts the circumstances surrounding the siege and fall...)

    2001
  • Great Society: The Story of Lyndon Baines Johnson

    (Discusses the personal life and political career of the m...)

    2002
  • Lou Henry Hoover: The Duty to Service

    (A biography of the wife of President Herbert Hoover, foll...)

    1998

Religion

Nancy Colbert was a member of the parish council, liturgy committee, and worship space committee, and a lay minister at St. Ludmila Catholic Church.

Politics

Nancy Colbert was an adherent of democratic political views.

Views

For Nancy Colbert writing was an outlet for thoughts and emotions. In her opinion, looking at history teaches people about life and helps live today. She wanted to help history to be part of her readers' lives with her books.

Quotations: "I write because it is part of me. I feel being able to express ideas in the written word is a gift I have been given and that it is my responsibility to use it to the best of my ability. Life itself often takes precedence over writing - husband, family, friends, church - but this is what provides the base to all writing. And when I'm not writing, I’m reading."

Interests

• tent camping, fishing, reading

Connections

Nancy Shearer married James Bernard Colbert on August 20, 1955, in St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids. Their children are Jim Colbert, Susan Hyler, Sally Kenney, Mary Ellen Lancaster, and Martin Colbert.

Father:

George Shearer

Mother:

Eleanor Shearer

husband:

James Bernard Colbert

Son:

Jim Colbert

Daughter:

Susan Hyler

Daughter:

Sally Kenney

Daughter:

Mary Ellen Lancaster

Son:

Martin Colbert

Brother:

George Shearer