People in Klamath Falls have received word of the passing of key community matriarch Nancy Wendt.

She, along with her husband Richard “Dick” Wendt, bought a millworking business at auction in 1960, and turned it into one of the leading employers in the Klamath Basin — Jeld-Wen.

Nancy Wendt died April 4 surrounded by family.

Through the years, Nancy Wendt became a leading supporter and funder of a variety of initiatives. In fact, her philanthropy will impact the lives of people who live and visit Klamath County for years to come.

According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, philanthropy is “… literally translated as ‘loving people.’ The English word can refer to general goodwill to one’s fellow people, as well as to the active effort to promote the welfare of people, but in modern use it is most often used to refer specifically to the practice of giving money and time to help make life better for others.”

Promoting the welfare of people and making life better for others best describes Nancy Wendt.

“Nancy held education and Klamath Community College near and dear to her heart,” according to Roberto Gutierrez, president of Klamath Community College. “KCC is honored by the Wendt family donating $250K to the KCC Apprenticeship Center.”

“The educational impact on students and the region’s economy cannot be measured,” Gutierrez said. “Our hearts go out to the Wendt family. We are confident that her work will inspire others to continue to improve the lives of people in our local community.”

Amanda Squibb, Executive Director of Friends of the Children Klamath Basin, echoes those sentiments. “Nancy quietly modeled community responsibility for making Klamath a great place for all to live.”

“Her generosity helped establish and sustain so much of the best here, including Friends of the Children, and we’re so grateful she was able to see the success and growth of professional youth mentoring over the past 24 year,” Squibb said. “She’ll be dearly missed.”

“Nancy gave of her time and resources generously for more than two decades,” Squibb added. “She was a founding Friends board member who helped secure our first clubhouse space on Altamont Road, and who stayed involved, even attending the open house for our new clubhouse on Old Fort Road in November 2023.”

Oregon Tech President Nagi Naganathan said Nancy was “known for her kindness, generosity and unwavering commitment to making our community a better place. She was an incredibly humble and giving person, and her caring was truly pristine,” Naganathan said.

“Oregon Tech’s vision for a new Center for Allied Health Professions became a reality through her leadership when she led the campaign to build the Dow Center. Nancy and Dick Wendt’s legacy will continue to inspire us all,” Naganathan said.

“Nancy Wendt’s beautiful and enduring legacy continues to be as broad and bright as ever in our SMART Reading Program in Klamath,” said Holly Stork, SMART’s Area Director.

Stork, now in her eighteenth year at the helm of the organization, marvels at the impact of the Wendts’ gift and their desire to support the dreams and aspirations that can blossom through encouraging children to read.

“The imaginative and innovative thinking that Nancy and her husband, the late Dick Wendt, inspired by helping early literacy flourish is a gift that has impacted generations of children and families in our community that they loved so much,” said Stork.

Since its local inception in the Klamath Basin in 1992, “SMART Reading has grown to serve tens of thousands of preschool through third graders and given away more than 356,000 books to children to build their own personal literacy libraries.”

“This year,” Stork said, “we will serve 1,689 children in 27 schools and preschools across the Basin, including our Klamath Tribes and seasonal migrant families. This is possible because of Nancy and Dick’s wonderful work to make the world a better place,” she said.

KCC, Friends of the Children, Oregon Tech and SMART Reading Program are only a small sampling of the entities impacted by the Nancy J. Wendt Foundation. Her grant and volunteer giving focused on children’s services and social service agencies.

Organizations who have received gifts from the foundation include the Community Foundation of the Klamath Basin, First Presbyterian Church, Sky Lakes Medical Center Foundation, Lake County SMART Reading Program, Elks Nursing Scholarship, Hope Community Center, Oregon Tech Athletics and others.

Wendt was also the winner of the United Way’s Chester H. Hamaker Heritage Award for Lifetime Achievement, awarded for her volunteer service to the United Way in 2003.