Centenarian befriended by Prince George’s officers laid to rest www.privateofficer.com

Prince GeorgeCounty MDSept 23 2012 The Prince George’s Countypolice officers carried a polished wooden casket Friday through the cemetery atSt. John’s Episcopal Church in Fort Washington.As friends and neighbors shared memories about the 102-year-old woman inside,one detective wiped tears from her eyes.
Police had come for a final goodbye to Nancy Poore Tufts, afeisty centenarian officers met last year while they were investigating a rashof burglaries and looking for places where crooks might store their loot. Thechance encounter sparked a lasting friendship, and when Tufts died in her Fort Washingtonhome Sunday, she had police, firefighters and neighbors at her side.
“I’m just thankful we were able to be a part of her life,”said Detective Tammy Irons, who was among seven Prince George’s County police officers askedto be pallbearers at Tufts’s funeral. “I wish we would have met her sooner.”
Irons first encountered Tufts last summer as she pokedaround the 102-year-old’s red brick mansion on the Potomac River — a home she assumed was abandoned. Surrounded by knee-highgrass and its outside blanketed in green ivy, police thought it might have beena criminal stash house. Making her way past tables and shelves full of dustybooks, hand bells and Victorian figurines, Irons heard what she would come toknow as Tufts’s iconic call.
“Yoo-hoo!” Tufts chirped from her seat beneath a window.
Police officers soon began checking on Tufts regularly — inpart to make sure she was okay, in part because they were fascinated by herstories. Born in London to American parents,Tufts’s family moved to Marylandin the 1930s, cutting a space for a house out of land that was mostly woods.
Tufts eventually earned several degrees, including abachelor’s and master’s from Syracuse University, and worked asa music teacher. In an interview in the summer of 2011, Tufts said she wassometimes known as the “panda lady” because she let National Zoo officialsharvest bamboo from her property to feed the pandas. She also started a localhand bell group.
“She meant a lot to us,” said Detective Jennifer Ivy, whowas also close with Tufts. “It was her personality, her wit, and just theknowledge that we would gain from her. . . . Every time you would walk throughthe door, you would learn something new.”
A quick-witted woman who kept up with current events, Tuftslived mostly independently in her home and used a walker to get around. She hadno children, and her husband died decades ago. Police said they worried abouther safety, but they stopped by as friends, not caretakers.
“What kept us going there was who she was,” said Sgt. MattBarba.
Tufts’s funeral was a formal affair, attended by severaldozen neighbors, police officers and firefighters — whom family members thankedfor looking out for Tufts in recent years. Retired Air Force Col. James E.Poore Jr., Tufts’s nephew, remembered his aunt as a “fiercely independentwoman” who “lived life on her own terms.” Poore, 84, said that when he was 5years old and asked Tufts about an injury she had sustained in ahorseback-riding accident, she unabashedly lifted her skirt to show him thescar.
“I would say to St. Peter: Be Alert. Nancy Poore Tufts is onthe way,” Poore said.
In July 2011, Prince George’s police officers undertook a massivelandscaping project at Tufts’s historic property — a National WildlifeFederation “Backyard Wildlife Habitat” and county historic site — re-plantingsome of the garden that Tufts had promised to maintain for her mother some 40years ago. At the time, Tufts gave them a hand-written list of the animalsthere and a warning not to disturb any of them. She also objected when shethought some bushes were trimmed too heavily.
Detectives said Tufts told them repeatedly, as recently as afew weeks ago, that she wanted to die in her home. Although they were saddenedby her death, they said it was exactly as Tufts would have liked.
“I was happy that she was able to pass the way she wantedto, in her home,” Ivy said. “It’s just sad that she’s gone and we won’t be ableto enjoy her anymore.”
Source:WashingtonPost