Nancy R Koerner

ADVENTURER, YOUNG PIONEER, WOODWORKING ARTIST, ENTREPRENEUR

When Nancy Koerner went to Belize, Central America in 1976 as a young "gringa" pioneer, with her husband, and infant son, Belize was also in its infancy, and it was the start of a migration of young Americans. She lived in the Maya Mountains in the western forests, near Guatemala, where they were poor subsistence farmers. She chopped wood, carried water, lived in a thatch hut, washed​ 

clothes in the river, and carried her baby on her back. Always an artist, she started hand-carving miniatures out of exotic Honduran rosewood burl, and selling them to British Army troops who were hungry for souvenirs while stationed in Belize for jungle training. The connection endured, and the association became the beginning of an era. Now, decades later, Nancy lives in the U.S. but maintain close ties with the family wood shop in Belize as their licensed CITES approved importer of Honduran rosewood burl. A veteran wood carver, she has been involved in original creations for over 40 years.