LEWISTON — The funeral for Elaine A. Nelson will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Paul’s UCC/ELCA Church in Lewiston, with the Rev. Peter Huggenvik officiating. Burial will be in Bethlehem Cemetery in Fergus Falls, Minn., at a later date.
Mrs. Nelson, 87, a longtime teacher in Lewiston, died Friday (April 11, 2008) at Lake Winona Manor in Winona. She had been a resident of Lewiston Villa for eight years.
Elaine Alvera Foss was born Sept. 27, 1920, in Halstad, Minn., and graduated from Halstad High School in 1938 as class salutatorian. She then graduated from Moorhead State University, where she met Donald B. Nelson. They were married Sept. 26, 1942, in Manistee, Mich. The couple taught several years in Durand and Manton, both in Michigan, and worked summers on the Midland Car Ferry on Lake Michigan. In 1946, they moved to Parkers Prairie, Minn., where she was a teacher and her husband was the high school principal. They then resided in Morristown, Minn., where she taught second grade, until moving to Lewiston in 1956.
In Lewiston, Mrs. Nelson taught fourth grade and Title One math for many years, before retiring in 1983. In the early 1970s, she returned to school and received a master’s degree from Winona State University. She always remembered her students’ names and often those of their brothers and sisters, as well. At Lewiston Villa, she was resident council president, a former Valentine’s queen, and was responsible for sending birthday greetings to all residents. She was also the villa’s unofficial greeter, chatting with all visitors. She was a member of Lewiston American Legion Post 90 Auxiliary.
Survivors include a daughter, Dawn (Kent) Erdmann; two grandsons; three great-grandchildren; and a sister, Peggy (Gerald) Michelson of Edina, Minn. She was preceded in death by her husband in 2000, a son and two brothers.
ADVERTISEMENT
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Hoff Funeral Chapel in Lewiston and a half-hour before the service Monday at the church.
Memorials will be directed to St. Paul’s Youth and Lewiston Villa.
www.hofffuneral.com.
