Nancy Cook Most | Dog trainer, 87

Nancy Cook Most, 87, who trained German shepherds and hosted programs for schoolchildren at her farm in Valley Forge, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Friday at White Horse Village, a retirement community in Newtown Square.

Mrs. Most grew up in Ardmore and graduated from Lower Merion High School. After earning a bachelor's degree at Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., she was a market researcher for General Mills Corp. in Philadelphia.

In 1958, she married married a publishing-company executive, Harry Rutherford Most, whom she had met at an American Kennel Club show. In the late 1960s, they bought a 58-acre farm in Valley Forge and commissioned modernist architect Oscar Stonorov to design a three-story glass addition to the 17th-century fieldstone farmhouse.

Mrs. Most and her husband kept a number of other animals, along with German shepherds, at their Now and Then Farm. She participated in a Great Valley Nature Center program for schoolchildren and delighted in introducing the youngsters to the donkey, horse, pigs, goats, Chinese geese, and green-egg-laying chickens, said Christina Edgar, a family friend

Mrs. Most also hosted benefits for local charities at her home, which was furnished with her sculptures and the work of other local artists.

She and her husband protected their property from development through an arrangement with the Natural Lands Trust when they moved to White Horse Village in 1996. He died a year later.

Mrs. Most is survived by a son, Harry Rutherford "Ford" Most Jr.

Services are private.

Donations may be made to the Great Valley Nature Center, Box 82, Devault, Pa. 19432 or the Wharton Esherick Museum, Box 595, Paoli, Pa. 19301.