Karen Jean Norris Nelson

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 pm on August 30, 2026 at Indian Mounds Baptist Church with Rev. Charles Spence officiating.

Burial will follow in Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.

Karen is preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Lamar Nelson; father, Chester Alton Norris; mother, Blanche Hood Brennan; brother, Thomas LeRoy Norris; grandchild, Crimson Jordan.

She is survived by her daughters, Kerri Ann Brennan and Katherine Jordan (Trey); son, Kevin W. Nelson (Elizabeth); brothers, David Norris (Kim); half-brother, Al Norris; half-sister, Leigh Ann Sanders (Donald); grandchildren, Allyson Brennan, Nate Brennan, Bryant Nelson, Jay George, Katelyn Nelson, Madelyn Nelson, Raychel Brennan, Juleigh George, Southern Grace George, Lane Jordan and one great grandchild, Lydia Faye Brennan.

Karen Jean Norris Nelson born September 23, 1952 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to the late Chester Alton Norris and Blanche Tommie Hood Brennan. As a young girl Karen spent time on her grandparents Thomas Sidney and Vassie Buhl Hood's farm in Buhl, Alabama. She liked the time she spent there growing bananas and watermelons with her Pawpaw Hood.

She attended Holt High School where she played the clarinet in the Holt Ironman marching band. After high school she attended Shelton State where she obtained a Computer Engineering degree. She worked at Contract Knitters after college.

Then in 1974 she met Kenneth Lamar Nelson and they married shortly after December 15, 1974. They were married for 48 years until his passing in July 2022. In February 1976 they welcomed their son Kevin Wayne. In December 1978 they welcomed their first-born daughter Kerri Ann. In the middle there was a miscarriage and then in March 1985 Katherine Grace was born.

Karen volunteered at Englewood Elementary School as a teacher's aide while her kids were young. Then as they got older, she worked as a substitute teacher for Tuscaloosa and Hale County school districts. She enjoyed helping the teachers and making a difference in students' lives. When she was done subbing, she went to work at Moundville Methodist Daycare.

Karen also served her Lord and Savior in the various churches she attended Gilgal Baptist, East McFarland Baptist, and Indian Mounds Baptist in their children's ministries, choir, and VBS. She really enjoyed serving on the mission field in Davis, OK with the Native American peoples for 15 years.

Karen enjoyed reading her Bible and growing in her faith which sustained her throughout life.

Karen loved her late Father and Mother, her late brother Tommy, and her brother David. She enjoyed playing cards and board games with them. She also loved her half-sister Leigh Ann and half-brother Al.

She also loved her children who grew up, and she was proud of them and how they gave her grandchildren. Karen loved to spend time reading with her grandchildren and teaching them how to make pancakes.

Karen was a woman who listened to people. She encouraged them the way she knew how, with wisdom.

She didn't speak much, but when she did, she had something worth hearing.

Karen loved the people in her life that she met throughout the years. She enjoyed catching up with people that she served with in various churches and missions.

Karen loved and lost a lot of people throughout her life and that changed her and made her long for Heaven from her thirties til now when she got to meet Jesus herself.

Pallbearers will be Tom Nelson, Bryant Nelson, Jeff Nelson, Mattie Nelson, Hunter Nelson, Trey Jordan, Forrest Nelson, Noel Jones, Jay George and Lane Jordan.

Honorary pallbearers are all members of Indian Mounds Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers money can be donated to Indian Mounds Baptist Church Mission Fund at 40616 AL Hwy 69S, Moundville, AL 35474