NELL TALBOTT

TALBOTT Nell Coughran Talbott (Age 97) The wife of the late Lt. Gen. Orwin C. Talbott, died April 6, 2020 at Knollwood military retirement home in Washington, DC. She had a full life, not without its trials, and she got to live in one heck of a lot of places. When Orwin and Nell got orders to go from Fort Carson to Fort Monroe in early 1967 - her 18th move since marrying Orwin and her fifth in the past five years - her son asked her if it was difficult to move so much. She said, "It gets harder every time." She had only six more to go to get to Knollwood. Nell did very well for a girl from Girvin, Texas, a town on the Pecos River that had 75 residents, its peak population, in 1939, the year she graduated from high school in nearby McCamey. Girvin later dwindled down to 20, the last time they counted. But you had to count four miles in all directions. It was featured in a book called "Ghost Towns of Texas." Three years after she graduated Nell married an Army second lieutenant who survived 11 months of combat in the infantry and was posted after the war to Third Army headquarters in Heidelberg, where Nell and daughter, Marinel joined him. Then they went to Vienna, working on the staff of Lt. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, commander of the American sector. Occasionally, they'd get tickets from the boss to the famous Vienna opera. Nell said everyone in the audience would turn around to see who was in the Emperor's box. Not bad for a Girvin girl. Nell had a second child, Stephen, in Vienna. 21 years and 14 moves later she moved into the commandant's quarters at Fort Benning. It was a plantation house - Riverside - with big porches on both floors and a demanding social schedule. On New Year's Day they'd have a reception line for post brass and city dignitaries that would bring 400 people through their doors. "I may have had doubts about my ability to handle the job" as head of the Infantry School and post commander, Orwin once said, "but I never doubted Nell's." Of course, it didn't hurt that there was a buzzer on the floor under the dining room table she could step on to summon the orderlies. There were other benefits. You got to see lots of interesting places. But sometimes military duties were all consuming. And, getting relentlessly swept from post to post, you could feel, at times, powerless. You needed a strong sense of duty, and a few martinis, to tide you over the rough spots. But you also had Army family, good friends you had known for decades that you kept running into. And new friends. Parties and cocktails and a strong social ritual, powered by the loneliness of living on strange-yet-familiar Army posts far away, brought you together. Army family was good family. It didn't hurt that Nell had a lovely face and a beautiful smile that people talked about until the day she died. She finally settled down in retirement - 24 years in Annapolis and the last 21 at Knollwood. We'd bet that few from Girvin did as well as Nell. Love you, Mom. Steve and Marinel Nell is survived by daughter, Marinel Talbott Mukherkee, son, Stephen C. Talbott (wife Kitty), grandchildren, Jessica Talbott (husband Michael), Alexandra Talbott-Welch (husband Dusten), and Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Samir Mukherjee USN (wife Rujvi). Burial services at Arlington National Cemetery will be at a later date.Burial services at Arlington National Cemetery will be at a later date.