Nancy Swift Dingwall Platt, who sang in the Rye Presbyterian Church choir for decades and called Rye her home for nearly 60 years, died April 14 at age 86.

Platt died peacefully at her Rye home, according to an obituary published by her family. She is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at Rye Presbyterian Church.

Church and community

Originally from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and later Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Platt settled in Rye and made it her own. She was a member of Rye Presbyterian Church and Manursing Island Club, participated in a book club and a women's outreach group, and sang in the church choir for years.

Her family described music as central to her life. She sang with the Mount Holyoke V8s in college, and that love of singing led her to her husband, Princeton Tigertone Hunter Platt.

"She sang in the RPC choir for decades — and essentially everywhere she could!" her children wrote in a family statement.

Career in media

Platt graduated from Miss Hall's School and Mount Holyoke College, where she majored in religion and minored in music. She was also a childhood spelling bee champion.

She built a career in human resources at Life Magazine, HBO and Time Warner. At Time Warner, she developed and implemented the Work and Family Life Initiative, a program she was proud of, her family said.

Passions and pastimes

Outside work and church, Platt filled her time with needlepoint, the New York Times crossword, tennis, sailing, reading and cheering for the Boston Red Sox. She loved attending Broadway shows with family and friends.

Her children described her capacity for love, music, faith and generosity as an inspiration to family and a wide circle of friends they called her "large chosen family."

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the American Cancer Society or the Alzheimer's Association.