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© The Chickasha Express-Star
Submitted by: Sandi Carter

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Nannie Mae (Nabors) Reynolds

Oct. 31, 1916 ~ Sept. 26, 2010

CHICKASHA - Nannie Mae Nabors was born Oct. 31, 1916, to Ethel Mae High and Walter Victor Nabors in Jacksonville, Alabama. She died Sept. 26, 2010.

Her family moved to Chickasha when she was 3 years old. She attended Friend Elementary and graduated from Chickasha High School.

Nan graduated from Oklahoma College for Women, majoring in mathematics.

During World War II, Nan was a second lieutenant in the Navy. She was a radar engineer.

Nan taught math at Baylor University Waco, Texas; University of STanford, Institute of Technology, California; Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon; William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia; Radcliffe Women's College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Earning the reputation as one of the world's elite mathematicians, she was invited by UCLA faculty to work on one of the nation's first computers during the 1950's.

Reynolds contributed to the development of the computer, gaining the attention of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who sent her a signed birthday card in October 2007, giving thanks to her as a pioneer in computer technology.

Nan was an associate engineer in aerodynamics research at Douglas Aircraft, Santa Monica, California. She worked at Boeing Aircraft as an engineer in Seattle, Washington.

She met Robert Reynolds while they were both teaching math at Oklahoma State. They were married Jan. 1, 1948 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their circle of friends included associates of Albert Einstein. Robert died April 8, 2002.

Nan and Bob were asked to attend the 1950 International Congress of Mathematics at Harvard. In the movie "A Beautiful Mind", John Nash was also invited to attend this meeting. The Pulitzer Prize winner, Bernard Malamud, was a great friend of theirs. Malamud wrote a book, "A New Life" about the math meetings held at Nan's home.

Nan was a very compassionate person who always had a smile for everyone. She put her family above everything. Her care, wisdom and generosity were huge and unending.

Nan was preceded in death by sisters Pauline Walker of Chickasha, Dorothy Lee of Ada, Okla., Jean Madison of Chickasha, Fay Von Lossow of Kirkland, Wash. Bobbie Anderson of San Francisco, CA, and Patricia Morren of Norman, OK, and brother John Nabors of Chickasha, OK.

She is survived by sister Elizabeth Madison of Houston and brother Bill Nabors of Chickasha, and many nephews and nieces.

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