Maureen Maher

Fantastic sense of humor.

My mother is a very, very classy, well-mannered, elegant lady.

And Nancy would be the one that could just make her laugh to the point where she would say, oh, that's awful.

Oh, that's awful.

Joyce Bishop says her daughter Nancy was also a gifted performer, excelling at Winnetka's competitive New Trier High School.

But Nancy's aspirations stayed rooted in family.

She wanted to be a wife and a mother.

Exactly.

And have a home.

That was all she wanted.

And she was on her way.

In her early 20s, Nancy met Richard Langert.

I thought he was just this perfect match for Nancy because he was this tall, handsome jock, and he would just be kind of basking in this glow that she cast.

He would kind of look at her like, isn't she the most wonderful thing?

I would look outside, and he would be out mowing our lawn without having been asked, now, is that a good guy?

That is a good guy.

That is a smart guy.

They married in 1987 and were soon working together for a growing coffee company.

Every month she was hoping and praying and wishing that she would get pregnant.

Within a few years, Nancy found out she was pregnant.