She was the president of the International Women's Air and Space Museum and a member of United Flying Octogenarians.

Her father was Alfred Francis Hopkins I (1879–1955) who was born in Wayne, Pennsylvania and worked as an antique salesman.

Nancy had a brother, Alfred Francis Hopkins II (1914–1988), an illustrator, and two sisters, Frances and Betty.

That same year her father was working as an "antique salesman" and her mother was not listed as living in the household.

In 1930, she entered the Women's Dixie Derby, 2,000 mile air race from Washington, District of Columbia to Chicago, Illinois.