Main Content:

Nancy L. Oyler
Oct. 7, 1930 - May 29, 2016

The Nancy L. Oyler Student Award was established in 2019 by a gift from the John Francis Oyler and Nancy Lee Victoria Fleck Oyler Foundation, the first permanently endowed private scholarship in the SHRS Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Program. The award was established to honor the memory of Nancy L. Oyler.

Mrs. Oyler was born in Grove City, PA. She earned an Associate Degree at Grove City College. She attended the University of Pittsburgh and was awarded a Master of Education Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. While a student at Pitt, she began working for the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind. Following her graduation, she continued to work for the Guild as a rehabilitation counselor and intake specialist until 1968. Following a leave from the rehabilitation counseling profession to raise her three children, Mrs. Oyler returned to the Guild in 1986 (renamed as Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh), where she worked for the next 19 years until her retirement in 2005.

Professionally, Mrs. Oyler’s career as a rehabilitation counselor involved providing psychosocial adjustment services to persons with disabilities. She was remembered by those who knew and worked with her as having a passion for helping people and doing good things. She was described by co-workers as innovative and compassionate, instilling hope and confidence in persons going through difficult adjustments and assisting them in building independence.

Mrs. Oyler was a regular contributor to more than 40 nonprofit organizations dedicated to the welfare of people, animals and the environment.