Nelda June Sorrell was born on July 17, 1937 to Frances and Mable Doolittle in Clovis, New Mexico. She was the youngest of six children (Ruby, Melvin, Dale, Glenn, and Edith). ‘Home’ was a house built of adobe bricks with a tin roof. The house blended into the surrounding landscape; Nelda’s dad had made the bricks himself from the ground the house sat on. A tall windmill and chicken houses- one made of empty oil cans that had been mortared together and another of collected glass bottles- marked the homestead.
In the summer of 1953, Nelda met her would-be husband, Edward Lee Sorrell, and after a long-distance courtship, they married on January 10, 1957. Their life together was full of many adventures. They had three children, Leland, Arlan, and Lynette, and lived in Springfield, MO and California before retiring in Guthrie, OK in 1986.
As a young girl, Nelda developed a love for learning that lasted her lifetime. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Whittier College, worked as a school teacher and librarian, and applied her intellectual talent to aid the success of many charitable and financial pursuits.
Nelda loved the Lord and her family, and church was her life. Although physically handicapped for much of her life, her focus was always on what she could accomplish without complaining about physical limitations.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Edward Sorrell, and is survived by her children Leland Sorrell, Arlan Sorrell and wife Sarah, Lynette McMillan and husband Malcolm, six grandchildren and their spouses, and ten great-grandchildren.
