Elinor Nelson

Elinor Nelson, 93, of Mitchell, died on Friday, June 9, 2006, at Mitchell Care Center in Mitchell. Memorial services will be held 10:30 a.m., Monday, June 12, 2006 at Dugan-Kramer Funeral Chapel in Scottsbluff with Rev. Ron Nuss-Warren and Rev. Joyce E. Deines officiating. Cremation was held at Sunset Memorial Park. Interment will be in Fairview Cemetery in Scottsbluff. Elinor was born in Sweetwater, NE, April 29, 1913, to Jay L. Highland and Emma May Frye. The couple moved to Grand Island, NE, when Elinor was a small child she attended elementary school and graduated in 1931 from Grand Island High School. She attended Grand Island Junior College for one year and finished her education at Hastings College in Hastings, NE graduating with a BA degree in Education in 1935. Elinor taught two years in Bayard, NE, two years at Hebron and Chapman and one year in Grand Island. She married William F. Deines, December 25, 1939, in Grand Island, NE. They moved to Alliance, NE for one year and then settled in Grand Island in 1942 where she was a secretary for the First Presbyterian Church. During their marriage they had three children Joyce, Judy & Jerre. They moved to Kimball in 1954 where she taught second grade. They later moved to Scottsbluff in 1956 where she taught second grade for the Scottsbluff Public Schools at Lincoln Grade School for twenty-five years; retiring in 1976. In 1964 she married Arley C. Nelson who passed away in 1969. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, where she taught Sunday School and was active in the Church Guild. She was president of the Art Guild, was a member of the Professional Business Women’s Association and Delta Kappa Gamma. She was a member of the Hospital Auxiliary Association and served on the board for Hunt’s Acres for three years. During her college years she was very active in tennis, baseball and hockey. Later in her life she traveled to Hawaii and went on a tour of Switzerland, England, Germany and France. She also traveled extensively throughout the United States. She especially enjoyed going with a group with Norman Vincent Peale and his wife to Mexico. She had a great love of history and reading many books. She loved to sew; making twenty-five quilts. She loved to paint and working with her flowers in her garden. Elinor is survived by her daughters: Rev. Joyce E. Deines of Scottsbluff, Judy Bailey and son-in-law Ed Bailey of New York, and Jerre Smith and son-in-law Ken Smith of Boulder, CO, three grandchildren, three great grandchildren and one great great grandchild, sister-in-law Becky Highland and nephew Jay Highland of Durango, CO. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, two husbands, and a friend Harry Schroeder.