Rowena Nannerl "Nancy" Hilburn

Rowena Nannerl Hilburn, 84, passed away on December 23, 2025, following several years of struggle with Alzheimer’s. Better known as Nancy or Nan to friends and family, she was born on January 1, 1941, in Tulia, Texas where she grew up and graduated from high school. She was the daughter of Deskin and Ethel Shurbet née Ewing. Her more distant Shurbet and Ewing ancestors pioneered settlement of the West Texas high plains beginning in the 1880s in Floyd County.

After high school she attended North Texas State University until her marriage in 1962 to Paul
Hilburn, a graduate of Texas A&M. She and her husband were introduced by Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hill
of Tulia, Nancy’s friends since childhood. Following their move to Washington DC she graduated
from the University of Maryland in 1963. She accompanied her husband to USAF bases in the US
and Japan. Later, between her husband’s overseas assignments in Ecuador, Austria, Peru,
Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg as a US State Department Foreign Service Officer, she was a secondary school librarian in the Loudoun County, VA public schools. While living in Brussels she was employed as librarian at the US Army Support Activity, a service facility for US military and civilian personnel assigned to NATO headquarters. Following her husband’s retirement from the State Department, they made their home in Annandale, VA. In retirement she continued her lifelong interest in music both as a flutist for the Kings Park Community Orchestra and as a piano player. Reflecting her musical interests, Nancy’s own nickname derived in turn from the nickname of Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, an accomplished pianist in her own right and much admired by Nancy’s piano teacher mother.

She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Paul Hilburn, and niece Patricia Dobbs nee Shurbet of New Zealand, who grew up as a beloved sister from infancy following the death of her own mother, as well as nieces Nancy Krebbs of Lubbock, Jane Leger of Houston, Evelyn Newman of Redlands, CA, and Melissa Whitney of Rocklin, CA. She was predeceased by her son, Matthew, in 2022; her parents; brothers Deskin Hunt Shurbet, Jr, and Gerald Lynn Shurbet, both formerly of Lubbock and the Texas Tech University faculty; and sister Evelyn Joyce Miller, formerly of Grand Terrace, CA.
Funeral arrangements pending.