Nancy Jane Rich Comley, 81, formerly of Barrington, died peacefully on Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. She was the wife of the late John (Jack) M. Comley, Jr. and the daughter of the late Walter Wheaton Rich and the late Ruth Irene Wilkinson Rich. 

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Nancy attended Smith College, and later graduated from Pembroke College in Brown University in 1971. She subsequently earned a PhD. in American literature at Brown in 1977. She taught at Trinity College and the University of Oklahoma but spent the bulk of her productive career at Queens College, where she was chairperson of the English department for many years.

Nancy was a dedicated scholarly writer, and produced both textbooks and literary criticism including The Practice of Writing and Hemingway’s Genders. 

She is survived by her children Ann Comley Noyes and her husband Robert, Ellen Comley, and Heath Comley and his wife Cheryl, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. 

Her funeral service will be private. Burial will be held in Swan Point Cemetery, Providence. A Memorial Service will be held on a date and time to be announced. Arrangements are by the W. Raymond Watson Funeral Home. wrwatsonfuneralhome.com