Gloria Nelson

09/19/1921 - 10/22/2009

NELSON, Gloria Marie (Spiegel) Gloria Nelson, who diedThursday afternoon, October 22, 2009 at the EvergreenHospice in Kirkland, was born September 19, 1921 in Denver,Colorado. A daughter of Jacob Birk Spiegel (engineer) and Margaret Jane Hunter Spiegel (nurse), Gloria was raised in Topeka, Kansas where she attended Potwin Elementary, Roosevelt Junior High, and graduated from Topeka High School in 1939. She graduated from Kansas StateUniversity in 1943 with a degree in Home Economics and Business. In 1965 she received a Masters degree in counseling and guidance from GonzagaUniversity in Spokane. Before her marriage to Lee Nelson on March 14, 1944, she worked for the Provident Nursery School in Topeka, Kansas, as a continuity writer for KCKN radio in Kansas City, and for the Office of Price Control in Houston. Later, she taught nursery school in Wichita, Sunnyside Elementary School in Strathmore, California, and spent 26 years teaching for District # 81 inSpokane. Gloria believed in the curative powers of work and Mentholatum. And she loved radish sandwiches, Diet Pepsis, and writing letters. As a young wife with a family of four developing a farm outside of Othello in the newly opened Columbia Basin (1953-1956), she typed a letter a day to her father in Kansas on an old Royal upright typewriter. These letters are now in the permanent collection of the Cheney Cowles Museum, and detail the daily pleasures and struggles of bringing irrigation to the formerly desert land. Two of her favorite songs were "Look for the Silver Lining" and "He Wears a Pair of Silver Wings" (her husband, Lee, was an Air Force veteran). She loved the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters. In her later years she loved to follow the Cooking Channel and try out new meals on her husband andchildren. She loved to read the biographies of entertainers. And she wrote three books on her own family titled: Of Saints, Sinners, and the Rest of Us, Fifty Years with the Lee Nelson Family, and We Built a Farm (2002). Thislatter, for sale, book was quite popular. Gloria was a reporter on the Police Beat for the Valley View newspaper, where she also contributed specialarticles notable for their catchy diction and clear humor. Gloria was selected Good Neighbor of the Year in 1998 in Spokane. And she was President of her cul-de-sac where they had their home after moving to Carnation. Gloria was also a member of PEO Chapter HR, Retired TeacherAssociation Delta Kappa Gamma, Topeka High Alumni, Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Carnation Historical Society, Inland Empire Apartment Assoc., Spokane Stitchery Club and ran the front desk at the Carnation Senior Center for some time as a part-time volunteer. Gloria is survived by her husband Lee and their four children and spouses: Gary Lee and Alice Nelson of Auburn, Larry Allan and Karen Nelson of Seattle, Carl Douglas and Lynn Nelson of Carnation, and Blythe Jane and Larry Knechtel of Seattle and nine grandchildren. Gloria is preceded in death by a grandchild, Hart Nelson Knechtel, and is missed by all. A memorial service will be held Sunday, November 22nd, from 2-4pm at the SnoValley Senior Center in Carnation, Washington. Donations should be given to the SnoValley Senior Center.