Mabel Frances (Ragan) Nelson (2011)

NELSON, RAGAN, CLINE, WATERBURY, HOLLOWAY, ROWLEY, VAN DER LUGT, SPAW, RUTHERFORD, SWANSON

Posted By: Mary Welty Hart (email)
Date: 9/11/2011 at 20:18:07

Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa
September 11, 2011

MABEL FRANCES NELSON, Urbandale

Mabel F. Nelson passed from this life on Tuesday, September 6, 2011 in her home at The Reserve in Urbandale, IA. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, September 13, at Highland Park Christian Church in Des Moines, where the family will greet friends from 9:30 a.m. until the service time on Tuesday. Burial will take place at Mitchellville Cemetery in Mitchellville, IA.

Mabel Nelson exemplified the spirit and strength of women of her generation, living a full and productive life of 95 years. Born in Winterset, Iowa on March 8, 1916, she was the third of nine children born to Lawrence Elmer Ragan and Amy Belle Cline Ragan. Mabel lived through the Great Depression, developing a character and energy that guided her life. She fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a professional beautician, opening the first beauty shop in Mitchellville, enriching her wide circle of friends with each new client. A great storyteller, she loved to contrast the costs of today and costs of the past, recalling that a "shampoo and set "was $1.50, "perms" were $3 and $5 and "end curls" were $1.50. Despite the challenges of those times, she proudly spoke of her successful business, Mabel's Beauty Salon.

Mabel met her future husband, Harold D. Nelson, at a Halloween costume party in 1937. After courting for 3 1/2 years, they married on March 3, 1940 at her parent's home in Mitchellville. Mabel and Harold were happily married for 51 years until Harold's death in 1991. She has missed him each and every day. Marriage, family and her well-grounded social life were always focused around their church home, Highland Park Christian Church.

During her life, in addition to her work as a beautician, Mabel worked as a bookkeeper and a devoted and reliable volunteer. She continued to give generously of herself and her time at The Reserve on Walnut Creek in Urbandale, where she lived independently for the past decade. She was a member of Auburn Eastern Star, Stewardess Club, Christian Pilots and a 50+ year member of Highland Park Christian Church.

She is survived and lovingly remembered by her two daughters, Diana Waterbury of Pequot Lakes, MN and Georgetown, TX and Jacque Holloway (Dennis) of Cedar Rapids, IA; one sister, Eleanor Rowley (Charles) of Urbandale; five grandchildren, Kim Waterbury (Peter van der Lugt) of Woodbury, MN, Jill Rutherford (Shan) of Austin, TX, Laura Swanson (Dave) of Clive, IA, Matthew Holloway (Carol Spaw) of LaPine, OR and Christopher Holloway of Port Townsend, WA. Mabel was a loving and good "grandma", but it took her three great-grandchildren, James Rutherford, and Nathan and Ragan Swanson to make her "Great". Naturally, James, Nathan and Ragan called her "Grandma-Great". Mabel was preceded into eternal life by her parents; husband, Harold in 1991; four brothers; three sisters; and one son-in-law, Richard C. Waterbury in 2008.

Memorial contributions may be made to Highland Park Christian Church in Mabel Nelson's name.

We will miss our Mom, Mother-in-law, Grandma and Grandma-Great, but we are thrilled that she and Dad, the love of her life, are together again in Heaven. As we say "Farewell and thank you for enriching our lives" to this very special lady, old friends and much beloved family are waiting for her and calling, "Here she comes…………"