Nancy first moved when she was four years old. She and her family moved many times during her life, and she changed schools seven times in nine years. Because of her father's job, her family lived in places such as Peterborough, Ontario, and Chilliwack, British Columbia. After that, they lived in Vancouver, British Columbia. They then spent more time in Chilliwack and also lived in the village of Sardis, British Columbia.
She said it was sometimes very hard to move away from friends and live in new towns. At first, she felt lonely and found it hard to learn new subjects. She and her brothers were sometimes unhappy when they heard they had to move again.
As a child, she had lots of different jobs in the places where she lived. She delivered papers. When she was a little older, she babysat. One issue with babysitting was that she did not like it when parents said they would be home at 11:00 p.m. but would actually get home at midnight or one in the morning. One summer, she and her brothers, Peter and Fred, also got a job picking beans. They were paid two cents per pound, and at the end of two weeks, they made about $20.
Another great job Nancy had while growing up was working at the Blue Spruce Inn in Muskoka, Ontario. She worked there for three summers during her high school years. While working there, she learned many life lessons, such as how to work hard, get along with the girls she worked with, clean up the kitchen, do the laundry, and not goof off when work had to get done.
At the end of the bean-picking summer, Nancy and her brothers found out they would be moving to Toronto, Ontario, in December. She and her brothers were not happy about the move until they found out they could spend the money they had made at Disneyland. They would be going to Ontario through the USA.