Retha Smith Kessel Nelson 1907-1988

SMITH, CRANE, KESSEL, NELSON, CARTER, LEEPER, OUTLAND

Posted By: Cathy Labath (email)
Date: 2/24/2006 at 19:23:27

Unknown Newspaper
Date Unknown

The funeral service for Retha G. Nelson will be at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Mary's Catholic Church with the Rev. William Sullivan officiating.

Mrs. Nelson, 80, Route 4, died at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, 1988, at Ottumwa Regional Health Center. She had lived in Center Township for 62 years.

She was born Sept. 23, 1907, in Lockridge, the daughter of Charlie and Nellie Crane Smith. She married Ralph J. Kessel, April 26, 1927, and he died June 30, 1949. She married George Nelson Aug. 18, 1951, and he died March 16, 1967.

Mrs. Nelson was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and the Altar and Rosary Society. She was treasurer for the Association for Retarded Citizens and secretary for the Keep Young Club. She had been secretary for 18 years of the Center Township School Board and had worked in the office of Jefferson County Hospital for 25 years.

Mrs. Nelson is survived by three daughters, Ruth Carter of Scottsdale, Ariz., Helen Leeper of Fairfield and Vivian Outland of Carlisle; one brother, Cecil Smith of Baraboo, Wis.; six grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

A rosary will be recited at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Behner Funeral Home by the Altar and Rosary Society. Prayers for a Christian wake will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with visitation to follow. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Keep Young Club, the American Cancer Society and the Association for Retarded Citizens.

[Retha was my grandmother.]