Nan Thorne Fogel

Nan Thorne Fogel (94)

Peggy Nan Thorne Fogel (Nan) passed away peacefully on November 11th, 2025, with loved ones close by and in her heart. This amazing lady was born on October 10th, 1931, in Greybull, Wyoming, just 30 minutes before her also amazing twin sister Ann Schroll Simpson. Nan and Ann’s parents had no idea that they were going to have twins. The day they were born, their daddy went up and down Main Street in Greybull boasting about his beautiful baby girls.
They grew up on a small farm at the edge of town with their parents Ivan and Pansy Schroll and their big brother, Robert. From a young age, the two girls were fiercely independent and fearless. They explored the woods around their farm in the Greybull Heights and at their cabin on Paint Rock Creek in the Bighorn Mountains. They played with the neighbor kids by the Big Horn River and tended to the farm livestock. They had a horse, Pat, and a donkey, Molly, that the twins would ride to and fro. These animals also supplied the transportation to their obligatory piano lessons. Nan would say she was somehow always stuck with the donkey. On their adventures, they were invariably accompanied by their trusty collie, Huppy.
At the age of nine, their parents sent them for a short visit to an aunt in Colorado. The twins traveled alone by train from Greybull to Denver, 450 miles south. While nowadays one wouldn’t think of sending their eight-year-old children alone on such a journey, the twins did it in style. In what would end up becoming a lifelong practice of connecting with people, the twins became friends with an older married couple also traveling by train to Denver. They ate meals together, talked, and stayed in touch with the couple for decades, even after the twins themselves were grown and married.
When the twins were sixteen, tragedy struck the family, as their father Ivan passed away. Their mother, Pansy, wanting her children to have a better life and a good education, moved the family to Laramie, the location of the University of Wyoming. The twins danced their way through college, literally. If you were not a good dancer, you had zero chance of getting a date with one of the twins. They were active in campus activities, including Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, a house they continued to support for many decades after graduation.
During summers while attending UW, Nan and Ann worked at various dude ranches around Colorado and Wyoming. While working at Valley Ranch outside of Cody, Nan met Oakleigh Thorne II, a co-worker at the ranch. Oak had visited the ranch a few years before from his home in Long Island, New York. He had worked summers at Valley Ranch for three seasons and fell in love with the West. In his fourth summer working at the ranch, he also fell in love with Nan. And luckily, he could dance. Oak and Nan were married in December of 1953. Nan had just recently finished her degree at UW and the couple moved to Boulder, Colorado so that Oakleigh could get his PhD at the University of Colorado. They raised three children there: Susan, Jonathan and Sarah. While in Boulder they also started and grew Thorne Films, an educational film company. While building the business and raising the kids, Nan and Oak travelled extensively, both in the US and internationally, almost always with at least one of the children. For almost 60 years Nan was an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, serving on the vestry, the choir and many other functions. They were also very active in the Boulder community, including leading early land conservation and open space efforts and the founding of an outdoor education non-profit, now called Thorne Nature Experience. Nan was its first board member, treasurer and secretary. TNE is still a vibrant organization today.
Nan was a great entertainer, and held countless parties, fundraisers, pre-CU game events, dinners with friends and other bashes at their house on Hillside Road near the university. No one could pull together a party like Nan. The annual Christmas Eve party was legendary. She was also a great organizer of outings, big and small. And she had a knack for infusing fun into all of these. Trips to the pool, Yellowstone, Europe or Africa ended with someone in the group exclaiming “That was so much fun!”.
Nan was also a terrific skier, runner, hiker and tennis player. Whether on the slope or the court, she usually had no problem ending up in front, much to her children’s frustration. Never one to stand idle, she also found great joy in teaching her kids and grandkids how to survive and thrive in life. Cooking, cleaning, gardening, sewing and tracking household finances were just a few of the things she taught us to master. She also taught us all how to love.
After selling Thorne Films in 1968, Nan and Oak kept their residence in Boulder but purchased Valley Ranch near Cody, Wyoming, where they had first met. They continued to run Valley as a dude ranch. Nan was made for the job of ranch matron, connecting with the guests and making lifelong friends. She was the consummate hostess. Nan and Oak divorced in 1976 but stayed dear friends until Nan’s passing. Nan continued to reside in Boulder and married Walter Fogel in 1984. Walt was a professor at UCLA. Nan and Walt split their time between LA and Boulder. Walter passed away in 2003. In 2013 Nan moved to Sheridan, Wyoming to be closer to her daughter Sarah and lead a bit quieter life than the fast pace of Boulder. She resided in Sheridan for eleven years, where she was an active member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. As one would expect, Nan quickly jumped into Sheridan community activities, including counseling to the elderly at the VA hospital and arranging coffee hour at church. She supported and helped at local Sheridan non-profits such as Lunch Together, The Brinton Museum, and the Ucross Foundation.
Nan moved back to Boulder in late 2024 for better memory care facilities and to be close to her son. Even as dementia progressed, she still connected with fellow residents and staff at the care facility.
She is preceded in death by her parents Ivan and Pansy, brother Robert, husband Walt, brother-in-law Alan Simpson, sister-in-law Donna Schroll and daughter Susan. She is survived by her son Jonathan (Mary Ellen), daughter Sarah Mentock (Tom), ex-husband Oakleigh Thorne II, sister Ann Schroll Simpson, grandchildren Diana Ives, Matthew Thompson, Kellen Mentock and Julia Thorne, great-grandson Finley Ives, stepchildren Susan, Peter and Cathy Fogel, nieces and nephews Bill Simpson, Colin Simpson, Sue Simpson Gallagher, Elizabeth Schroll Challinor and Amy Schroll, as well as many grandnieces and grandnephews, all of whom she loved and was very proud of. Nan took her last breath with seven loved ones present and holding her. Many more were holding her in their prayers. We wish to thank the wonderful staff at Morningstar Assisted Living and Memory Care of Boulder and Bloom Hospice in making Mom’s journey comfortable and peaceful. In lieu of flowers, please hug a loved one, sing, dance, make a donation to the charity of your choice, and say a prayer for this grand lady. A funeral celebration will be held on Friday, December 12th at 1pm at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1 South Tschirgi Street, Sheridan, Wyoming. Reception to follow.

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