Nanny Elisabeth Berry |1928-2025

Nanny Elisabeth Berry | June 19, 1928 – September 18, 2025

Nanny Elisabeth Berry passed away peacefully at her home on Vashon with the view of Quartermaster Harbor that she loved so much.

Born in Laholm, Sweden, Nanny was the second youngest of eight children to Anton and Maria Svennson. Her early career in Mellbystrand included becoming a veterinarian and establishing her interest in photography.

Nanny emigrated from Sweden to America in 1951, initially in Minnesota, staying with family in Canada, then traveling across the U.S. to California to visit her brother Knute before coming to Seattle, Washington. When she found work at Sears and met her dear friend Phyllis Stuckey, she moved to Vashon, built an addition to their home and started her photography studio.

In the mid-1950s, Nanny answered an ad in the paper for a photography assistant and began working for Carl Berry in his business of surveying, mapping, and aerial photography. She was an amazingly beautiful, talented and accomplished woman at a time when many of the jobs she excelled at were mostly done by men, and she held the respect of many, including Carl, whom she married in 1958. They worked together for many years in their business, Carl flying the Cessna while Nanny sat in back working the cameras. Some of their work included mapping the I-5 corridor, the Duwamish River canal and many Weyerhaeuser projects.

Their son Richard was born in 1961, and while she continued working with Carl, found time to build a shop at their home in Burien, landscaping the property and gardening.

Oh, the gardening! What an amazing green thumb she had.

There were many trips to Sweden and Europe, visiting family, helping run the family business that her mother started, and taking care of their home in Mellbystrand.

She took pottery and sewing classes and made many of their clothes. She bought a kiln and fired all her own pottery. Anything of interest she quickly became proficient at. When Ricky became interested in cars, they took evening auto shop classes at Highline College, learning how to tune up and maintain their fleet of vehicles.

In 1987, Carl and Nanny moved back to Vashon to live in the home inherited from her friend Phyllis. From 1980-87 they spent most of their time remodeling the home, building a shop, gardens, and installing almost 200 feet of bulkhead. No task was too big for Nanny and her shovel.

After Carl’s passing in 1999, Nanny continued to enjoy her time at home, in the garden and traveling. Nanny and her friend Chuck spent several years enjoying the waters of Puget Sound aboard the Enterprise. And always giving and enjoying the love and friendship of so many people she had made through the years.

When she was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in 2004 and given less than 5 percent chance of survival, she beat those odds with 20 more years of enjoying life.

More recently, when Nanny wasn’t able to swing an axe and shovel, her wonderful friends, local caregivers and Hospice stepped up to make her life so much more meaningful.

She was preceded in death by her mother and father, and all her siblings; Assar, Sture, Marta, Dahlia, Knute, Wivi, and Lola. She is survived by her son Richard, daughter-in-law Laurel, and many relatives in the USA, Sweden and Canada.