Nancy Ellen Lyons

Nancy Ellen Lyons, age 67, passed away Tuesday, June 17th at Mayo Clinic Health System, Mankato, surrounded by her family. A celebration of life will be held on June 27, 2025 from 2-5pm at Kolden Funeral Home in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

She was born August 17, 1957 to Leonard and Charlene (Tischer) Ubl. Nancy was a 1975 graduate of Loyola Catholic High School in Mankato and continued her education at Mankato Commercial College. Nancy married Len Carpenter in 1977, they had 2 children, Sara and Andrew, and later divorced. Nancy married Tim Lyons August 23, 1986 and had 2 more children, Eric and Stephen. Over the years, Nancy held many jobs, sometimes multiple jobs at once, including Happy Chef, Holiday Inn, Appraisal Services, Lake Region, Excelsior Henderson, Arlington Raceway, Ziegler CAT, and Coborn’s.

Nancy not only loved her own family, but she loved so many others as her own and she enjoyed spending as much time together as possible. She would whip up a whole feast, on a moment’s notice, for way more people than were expected. Nancy loved being outdoors, watching her kids & grandkids play softball, sitting in the sun or by the bonfire, weeding her kids’ lawn just for fun, and helping others with anything she could. She loved canning and over the last several years has been teaching her kids and ‘adopted’ kids the art of canning, so the tradition continues.

Nancy is survived by her children, Sara (Tyler) Palmer, of Mankato, Andrew (Jenn) Carpenter of Naples, FL, Eric (Jenny) Lyons of Green Isle, and Stephen (Ashley) Lyons of Belle Plaine, her grandchildren, A.J., Arin, Abby, Dawson, Jaxon, Joey, Sophie, Ava, River, Bauer, Ember, her one and only great grandchild, Colbie, her sisters, Karen (Dan McKinley) Cooper and Jeanne (David) Hassing, brothers in law, Don Lyons and Joe (Rose Hanson) Lyons, sisters in law, Kim (Joe) Enz, Pam Kiem and Sue (Jon) Breitenstein and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, parents in law Paticia and Dutch Lyons, infant sister Susan, her grandson, Kaden, and brothers in law, Neal Cooper and Dan Lyons.