Remembering Nancy Stagg
Nancy Stagg (left) perusing the station’s record library
On May 1, beloved former WILL employee and local organist Nancy Stagg passed away. She served in various capacities at WILL-FM between 1973 and 1994, including as a broadcast assistant, announcer, producer, program coordinator, music librarian, and music director. Her influence is felt in Illinois Classical’s programming to this day.
“She shepherded Prairie Performances, live chamber concerts from the Krannert Art Museum, plus Classics by Request,” former Director of Development Danda Beard recalled. “She encouraged Roger Cooper’s Classically Black series, which aired all over the country, and Vic’s occasional specials, which were a delight and were also distributed nationwide.”
Nancy Sue Stagg (1937–2026) was originally from Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She received her bachelor’s degree in organ performance at the University of Oklahoma in 1959 and her Bachelor of Divinity in religion and higher education from Yale Divinity School in 1962. Her Bachelor of Divinity was later changed to a Master of Divinity in 1971 by Yale School of Divinity. She then earned her Master of Music in musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1972. Her thesis was entitled “Cyclic Coherence in Selected Song-Cycles of Robert Schumann.” She began coursework for a doctorate degree in musicology at Illinois but never finished.
Stagg remained in Champaign-Urbana and worked various jobs until her retirement. Before joining the staff at WILL in 1973, she served as a program assistant and organist at McKinley Presbyterian Church (1962–1976), and she was a graduate teaching assistant at the School of Music (1969–1972). She continued to play the organ at area churches and supported local performing groups, particularly the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana. Alongside her love of music, she was passionate about social justice movements, graduate student rights, and gardening.
