Lorine Nelson

     Mrs. Lorine Nelson, 99, a longtime resident of Nederland, passed away Sunday in Deer Park, forty six days short of her 100th birthday.

     Her beautiful life story revolved around family, featuring 73 years of marriage to H. A. (Tuffy) Nelson.

     They made their home on North 12th St. in Nederland since 1946.  Tuffy passed away in 2014, leaving Lorine to the care of sons Harlan and wife, Marianne; Ronny and wife, Molly; granddaughter Kellianne Hill and husband, Chris; grandsons, Stan and wife, Luann, Monte and wife, Leigh Anne, and George; great-grandsons, Cade and Cole; and great-granddaughters, Amber and Sarah. Each shared in morale-boosting, but it was the indomitable spirit of Lorine that lifted all.

     Recurring falls and two major surgeries had forced Mrs. Nelson’s move to Serenity Gardens in late 2021. She was adjusting well at the assisted living facility, but only three months later had to deal with the loss of Harlan, a victim of covid, and the hospitalization of Marianne, who eventually made a full recovery.

     Lorine was one of five children of George and Vannie Hales. She was born in 1923 at the height of the population (350) of Milvid, a now defunct Liberty County sawmill town. She was schooled there through the third grade. Mr. Hales moved his family to the oilfield boomtown of High Island in 1933.

     As fate would have it, a young Tuffy Nelson and his family would also be lured to the work-friendly town six years later. Fast forward a couple months and, as Lorine recalls, “I wondered why that boy kept looking at me while we were in class.”  The gazes continued, and soon Tuffy would be asking   Mr. Hales’ permission to take his daughter to the “picture show.”

     The courtship continued to blossom, and on Lorine’s 18th birthday, December 7, 1941, together at a local malt shop, they heard the life-altering news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. A week later, they exchanged vows at a High Island Church, and Tuffy would soon be drafted by the U.S. Navy.

     After his discharge, the Nelsons took on a $5,450 note and moved in to their Nederland dream home with three-year-old Harlan.  Ronny arrived on the scene a year later, in 1947.

     A gathering of family and friends for Mrs. Nelson will be Saturday, October 28, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church Nederland. The funeral service will begin at 11:00 a.m., with the Rev. Dr. Jason Burden, officiant. Interment will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Nederland. Services are under the direction of Melancon’s Funeral Home, Nederland, Texas.