Nancy (Simon) Ryan, of LaGrange Park, a devoted high school teacher who championed social justice, a mother and grandmother who loved with her entirety, and a wife whose marriage to her best friend thrived for 46 years, died Monday after a difficult but valiant fight against bile duct cancer. She was 75.

Mrs. Ryan and her husband, Raymond “Jerry” Ryan, had an unlikely love story: She took the name Sister Mary Caritas and entered the Sisters of St. Joseph convent at age 17; he became Brother Cormac and as a LaSallian Christian Brother followed a wanderlust that propelled him across the globe.

Fate intervened. They met team-teaching on Chicago’s Southwest side at St. Paul High School. Easy conversation blossomed into friendship. They shared a love of knowledge and teaching and adventure and a fascination in the world’s diversity.

When Brother Cormac left for a three-year posting in Kenya, the connection endured. Romance crept into the letters sailing back and forth across the Atlantic.

“I’ve thought about marriage in the abstract for a long time,”  Mrs. Ryan wrote to him on Oct. 31, 1969. “I’ve looked at my brothers and sisters and friends – – and I’ve concluded that what is most important is that two people like one another and are friends (as well as loving one another). That’s what reassures me – – we were friends, enjoyed one another, could work together, accept one another’s shortcomings, could communicate – – and only then fell in love.”

In 1970, Sister Mary Caritas petitioned successfully to leave the convent after 11 years. Brother Cormac cut his posting short and left his order. Their wedding program from July 3, 1971, read: “Be happy … because love, the finest and richest in our lives, is celebrated today.”

A year later, they welcomed a daughter, Elizabeth A. Labrador of LaGrange, followed in 16 months by a son, Joseph R. Ryan, now of The Bronx. Living on Mr. Ryan’s meager paycheck as a Catholic school teacher, they could only afford two children. But they welcomed two more: next came Andrew C. Ryan, now of Boston, and finally William J. Ryan, now of Queens.

Mrs. Ryan returned to the classroom. She taught religion, scripture, and world geography for more than 28 years at her alma mater, Nazareth Academy, from which she graduated in 1959. At school, Mrs. Ryan became a whirling force. She challenged students with speakers who offered firsthand perspectives on the death penalty and far-away wars, and she expanded their horizons at soup kitchens and tours of vibrant Chicago neighborhoods a world away from the western suburbs.

“I believe education has to balance the pursuit of truth while never losing sight of the vast differences in those who struggle to learn,” Mrs. Ryan once wrote.

Those students named her Teacher of the Year, and she won the Heart of the School award.

Mrs. Ryan’s passion could occasionally be tempered by her endearing absentmindedness. She often searched for eyeglasses perched on the tip of her nose and hunted in an endless loop for her missing car keys. But that was the uniqueness and style of Mrs. Ryan — a woman who wore clip-on earnings because she never pierced her ears and who set her hair in the morning with Scotch Tape, which she sometimes forgot to remove.

After retiring from the classroom, Mrs. Ryan continued her pursuit of goodness. St.  Francis  Xavier remained a pillar in her life. She served on the church’s Peace and Justice Committee, fought for the rights of immigrants,  and knocked on doors on behalf of President Obama in Wisconsin.

Born in Detroit on September 21, 1941, Mrs. Ryan was the fourth of seven children. Her family moved first to Chicago and then to the corner of Bell and North Waiola avenues in LaGrange. Her father, Waldo J. Simon, worked as treasurer for Morris B. Sachs. Her mother, Helen M. Simon, taught at St. Francis Xavier grammar school.

As a child, Mrs. Ryan once described herself as a shy, pudgy bookworm who hid in classics, like the Wizard of Oz and works by Shakespeare. With the prodding of her oldest friend,Mary (Bogan) Doolen, Mrs. Ryan emerged from her shell and blossomed into a confident, radiant red head.

In addition to her husband and four children, Mrs. Ryan is survived by her son-in-law Robert Labrador of LaGrange; daughters-in-law Brenna Fitzgerald of The Bronx, Jennifer Peter of Boston, and Clare Ryan of Queens; and eight grandchildren: Owen, Helen, and Nancy Labrador; Jack and Liam Ryan; Clara and Cormac Ryan; and Frances Ryan.

Other survivors include her sisters, Joan Kuhn of Morongo Valley, Calif, and Paula Simon of Pittsburgh, Pa.; her brothers William Simon of Fresno, Calif., and the Rev. Richard Simon of Skokie; and scores of cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends.

“I am sometimes taken aback by the intensity of my love for those whom God’s grace has sent me,” Mrs. Ryan wrote in a 2001 reflection. “And then I know that the source that powers this love has to be inexhaustible; God loves just because God is love, not because there is anything in us that demands to be loved.”

Visitation Friday, August 18 from 3 to 9pm  at Hallowell & James, 1025 W. 55th St., Countryside. The funeral is 10am Saturday, August 19, at St. Francis Xavier in LaGrange. In in lieu of flowers, please send donations to  the homeless advocacy organization Beds Plus, PO Box 2035 LaGrange, IL 60525. www.beds-plus.org/donate.html