Nancy A. Cueno

Nancy A. Cueno, lately of Galesburg and formerly of Edginton and Rock Island, passed away peacefully at home watching a James Bond marathon on Friday, August 28, 2026.

She was born August 18, 1952 to James Daniel and Wilma Jean Adney and raised in Rock Island, graduating from RIHS in 1970.

She met Frederick “Butch” Cueno II their senior year and they would marry in the Fall of 1972. She worked nearly all of her career at Butch's automotive shop, long after they divorced and even for a period after he passed.

For a city girl, she appreciated livestock. Something probably rubbed off from her father, who did grow up on a farm. She worked retail off-and-on out of high school at a Western clothing store that also sold tack and farm supplies, knowing nothing about either and staying away from that side of the store. Every summer included visits to the Belgian horse show at the Mississippi Valley Fair, the Iowa State Fair and one amazing summer chasing the Budweiser Clydesdales (and their Dalmatian) around the area. Confirmation and performance; horses, cattle and dogs.

She loved to travel. Easter to Halloween was filled with roadtrips. The more memorable ones were the legendary back-to-back weekends in Wisconsin Dells, the Fourth of July weekend in Louisville with a day trip to Lexington, the Colorado trip that ended up in Las Vegas due to monsoons, and the hotel manager in east Tennessee who knew she was a regular.

She had an impressive mug inventory for not explicitly collecting them. “Sorry I'm late, I saw a dog” may have been her favorite and was probably her motto.

She watched football on Saturdays waiting for the college basketball season to start, soccer every four years and “Two glorious weeks of tennis!” four times a year. She became a late-in-life Phillies fan once they had accumulated too many players she had been watching at other teams. She missed “the old days” of both the NHL and boxing - the nineties.

She was a voracious reader. The librarians at the Southwest Branch of the Rock Island Public Library would check the reserve shelf when she came in the front door.

She listened to Led Zeppelin, Hall & Oates, Motown, Metallica, Mudvayne and Tom Jones. She had also rediscovered 80's British pop. She didn't speak Italian but felt the pain in Caruso.

She is survived by her son James Frederick Cueno of Galesburg. She was preceded by her parents, two cats and a dog.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Rock Island Public Library Foundation or your local public library foundation.

As to her wish she has been cremated and there will be no service. Arrangements have been entrusted to Watson Thomas Funeral Home and Crematory, Galesburg. Online expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.watsonthomas.com.