Nancy Eileen Boycan

Nancy was born on October 26, 1942, in Butler, Pennsylvania, and grew up in rural West Sunbury, PA — a small western Pennsylvania community that shaped her practical spirit and quiet resilience. She was the daughter of Kenneth Irwin Weisenstein and Ina Catherine Weisenstein (née Kiser), both of whom preceded her in death.

Growing up in the postwar era in rural Pennsylvania, Nancy showed an early aptitude for mathematics and science at a time when young women were rarely encouraged in those directions. She was the prettiest and the smartest girl around, as one who knew her then would later recall — and she had the drive to match. She also excelled in athletics.

Nancy attended Grove City College, majoring in [MAJOR — TBD], and distinguished herself there as she had in high school. She graduated and began a career that would take her far from West Sunbury — in every sense.

Nancy married Gary Boycan, and together they had two sons: Steven Boycan and David Boycan. The marriage did not last, but the family did — Gary remained a presence in her life, and the two maintained a relationship that transcended their divorce. He is remembered here not as a former spouse but as a lifelong friend.

Nancy raised Steven and David largely on her own, as a single working mother in a demanding professional field. It was not always easy, and she would not have pretended otherwise. But she loved her boys immensely, and what she gave them was substantial: an appreciation for nature and animals, a habit of treating others with kindness and respect, a foundation of faith, and a sense of family as something worth protecting. Both sons went on to good universities and successful careers — David to George Mason University, Steven through Duke, Southern Methodist, Columbia, and London Business School, with a commission as an officer in the United States Air Force along the way. Steven has often said that Nancy was his role model.

In later years, Nancy was also a grandmother. Steven has a daughter, Eloise Krystyna Boycan. David and his wife Murrin McClafferty have four children: Brendan, Connor, Alison, and Nathan. Her grandchildren brought her particular joy. She had a well-established tradition of showering them with considerably more candy than their parents would have approved, and an apparently inexhaustible supply of unexpected gifts sourced from CVS and Walgreens. Nobody complained too loudly.

Nancy’s professional life was, by any measure, remarkable — and it unfolded largely out of public view, in the classified corridors of national defense.

She built her career as a systems analyst and engineer in the defense industry at a time when women in that field were vanishingly rare. She worked on programs tied to U.S. national security infrastructure, contributing to systems that were sensitive enough that details remain limited even now. She was known for her analytical precision, her ability to manage complexity, and her refusal to be overlooked or underestimated.

She worked for decades in the Northern Virginia defense corridor, eventually retiring after a career that few of her colleagues — and fewer of her family members — fully understood in its scope. She didn’t talk about it much. That, too, was characteristic.

Nancy made Reston her home for over fifty years. She lived at 1409 Greenmont Court, and the neighborhood suited her. She raised her boys there, taking advantage of the nearby elementary school, safe streets, open spaces, and the lakes where they could fish and swim. Reston gave her children a particular kind of childhood, and she valued that.

In her quieter years, she could often be found sitting in the front yard, watching the wildlife and greeting neighbors as they passed. She walked her dogs along the wooded pathways near the house — the kind of unhurried time that she genuinely enjoyed. She was not a joiner or a community organizer; she was someone who found pleasure in the immediate and the natural.

In the later years of her life, she spent meaningful time in Lusby, Maryland, with her longtime companion Bruce. There she found real contentment — watching the wildlife around his home, fishing in the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, eating crabs, sitting by the fire on the porch, and sharing it all with Bruce’s dog, Brindle.

Nancy loved the beach — not as a destination but as a feeling. The sound of waves at night was something she never tired of. She made sure her boys experienced the world early and well, taking them to the Bahamas, Acapulco, and Hawaii as they grew up. She owned a timeshare in the Bahamas through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, and she danced the Junkanoo (the Bahamian street festival of music, costumes, and celebration) with genuine enthusiasm. That was Nancy — she didn’t watch from the sidelines.

She loved music with what can only be described as eclectic conviction. Her playlist ranged from Neil Diamond and Gordon Lightfoot to the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Linda Ronstadt — then took a sharp turn through Elvis Presley, Elton John, Santana, ELO, and the Beach Boys, before landing squarely on Cyndi Lauper, Queen, Barbara Streisand, ABBA, and Taylor Swift. There was no theme. There didn’t need to be. She liked what she liked.

She liked to sing. She liked to dance. And when she saw ABBA’s music come to life on a Broadway stage, she danced in the aisle at the end. As one does.

She cared about the people in her life in her own particular way — fully and sincerely, on her own terms.

Nancy was raised in the Presbyterian church, in a family with Lutheran roots. As a mother, she exposed her children to a range of denominations, searching for the right fit for her own evolving spiritual life. She ultimately settled into a faith that was deeply personal and quietly held — Protestant Christian in its foundation, but not bound to any single congregation or doctrine. She believed in God and in Christ, marked religious holidays with grace and intention, and kept crosses and religious images in her home as a natural expression of who she was.

In 2024, Nancy was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroendocrine carcinoma — an aggressive and rare form of cancer. She faced it with the same directness she had brought to everything else in her life. She pursued treatment, endured its difficulties without complaint, and remained herself throughout. She did not become her illness. She continued to care about the people around her, to find things to appreciate, and to face each day on her own terms.

She passed away on May 2, 2025, surrounded by those who loved her.

Nancy is survived by her sons Steven Scott Boycan of [location] and his daughter Eloise Krystyna Boycan; and David Scott Boycan of Arlington, Virginia, his wife Murrin McClafferty, and their children Brendan, Connor, Alison, and Nathan. She is also survived by her former husband and lifelong friend, Gary Boycan; her brother Ronald Weisenstein and his sons Ron and Eric Weisenstein; and her brother Kenneth Weisenstein, his wife Gretchen, and their daughters Kathy, Barbara, and Sharon.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Kenneth Irwin Weisenstein and Ina Catherine Weisenstein.

This is a living memorial. If you have memories, photographs, or details about Nancy’s life — her years in Reston, her career, her friendships, anything — we would be grateful to hear them. This site exists to build a picture of her that is as full and honest as she deserves.

Please share your memories in the Memories section, or send photographs using the Gallery.