Thanks for all of the replies. It looks like just about everyone is suggesting the same kit, which I think will be good for her. For those asking, her current lenses are (to the best of my recollection) a variable aperture 28-80, which she doesn't use much because it has something like a 4' minimum focusing distance, and an off-brand 100-400 which has, frankly, terrible IQ (and something rattling around inside). Add to that the fact that she she's shooting it handheld, often at full zoom, with no image stabilization of any kind, and she's not getting great images from it.
She's planning to sell her *ist D, and despite the warning from one poster about its TTL abilities, I'm not sweating that. I'll give her a little extra coin to invest in starting a more solid kit, and I don't see her ever shooting much flash work. She also doesn't still own any of her older lenses, which were essentially all kit lenses anyway. The only exception is a 50mm 2.8, which is on her old ME Super, sitting on my shelf presently (and she'll have to pry that old metal beast from my cold, dead hands).
Nikon has been all over the place with lens compatibility, so the concept of being able to use a 25 year old lens on a new camera is probably an unheard of concept.
This actually isn't the case. Unlike Canon, Nikon didn't change their mount when they started putting AF motors in their cameras, so you can still use almost any F-mount lens on the newest Nikon bodies. There are some *really* old AI lenses that won't even meter on new bodies, but nearly all of their old lenses are still shootable.
Anyway guys, thanks again for all the help. I like the sound of that 40mm 2.8; I might look into getting something like that for her as a gift. Either that or a tripod, which she needs to start using desperately.