Jean (Helen Jean) Nelson was the firstborn of Edward N. and Henrietta (Johnson) Nelson January 29, 1916 on a farmstead south east of Oakland, NE. She ended her time here on earth as she slept during the early morning hours of March 9, 2016, at Oakland Heights Nursing Home, of old age.
She had just started attending country school when the family bought their own farm, and moved to where she would grow up, helping her mother to care for her eventual five siblings. She attended a new country school, and would graduate from Oakland High School at the age of 16, where she obtained her first teaching certificate. Later, she would attend Wayne State for a year to expand it.
She taught at Homer, Nebraska for a year before moving back to teach at a country school closer to home. During the summers, and even after her move to North Platte where she taught fourth grade, she took classes during the summers at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, and eventually graduated with a bachelor’s degree. Once she was asked by her mother to care for her sister Evelyn, who had been mentally damaged by a fall as a child, the two of them moved to Duluth Minnesota for two years. From there it was on to Chicago, Illinois, where Jean taught for over 30 years, was a Sunday school teacher and ran a Girl Scout troop in addition to caring for her sister. Jean retired at 65 because of a rule of the times. Soon after, she returned to Nebraska and the farm to live with her brother Gordon while Evelyn chose to stay at a Home in Chicago. Jean attended the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oakland and for decades belonged to and enjoyed helping others, the goal of their many organizations, until she could no longer do so.
Jean, never wasteful of her time also used the summers to work. One summer during WWII, Jean became a “Rosie the Riveter,” another summer she took Evelyn to Washington and the Pentagon to work and while Evelyn ran an elevator Jean worked in an office. They both met General Charles de Gaulle there during his 1944 visit. During the later 50s through the 70s they made trips to Europe to visit their younger sister Ruth and her family and enjoyed discovering Europe for themselves. However, whether it was Christmas or summer break from school Jean made it a point to first go back to the farm to spend time with her folks before anything else.
She never married but always said she had had many, many children in the ones she taught and in her nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; four siblings; two nephews.
She is survived by her youngest sibling, Ruth Schmidtmayr of Vienna, Austria; two nieces; two nephews; sixteen great-nieces and nephews; eleven great-great nieces and nephews.
Memorial Services will be held at a later date.
Pelan Funeral Services is in charge of arrangements.
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