Katherine Elizabeth Cook Nelson

We are gathered here this afternoon to bear witness to our faith in the resurrection, the resurrection of all who are buried in Jesus Christ our Lord and the resurrection of Katherine Elizabeth Cook Nelson.  Kate died last Saturday on September 8, 2007.  She was 86.

            Kate Cook was born in the delta of Mississippi, near the rural community of Slaughter, some 20 miles east of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where her parents had a small farm.  In her early childhood her parents moved to Baton Rouge, seeking both better schools for Kate and her older brother, and better economic opportunity.  The family all participated in a small but active vegetable and flower business.  By the time she was 14, Kate had learned to drive the family truck and delivering produce and later cut flowers in the neighborhoods.

            Kate attended the public schools of Baton Rouge, and after graduating from high school, enrolled in the local state university, Louisiana State University.  She did well in school, but by the time she was a junior, America had entered the Second World War.  Against the counsel of her parents, Kate enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps – WACs, where she served until 1946.  Attached to an army air force General’s staff, she was commissioned an officer, attaining the rank of Captain before war’s end.

            For most of her service she was stationed in and near Grand Island, Nebraska, where crews were being trained for service with a B-29 wing group.  One day in 1943, while stationed in Grand Island, she got off a plane and was spied by a young officer.  The officer was immediately smitten. He "managed to run into her” on an elevator, asked for a date, and with some persuasion, was successful (even though he was a you know what kind of Yankee from New York State).  The romance with Bill Nelson developed quickly.  Bill proposed and they were married in the post chapel in August 1944.  They shared 63 years of blissful marriage together, and had four sons- William, Peter, Paul, and John.

            After Bill and Kate were discharged, they visited their families, before moving to New York City, where Bill took a job with a small engineering consulting firm.  For the next twenty years Kate was absorbed in raising what ended up being four boys.  Her management of house and hearth was challenged by the frequent moves that were the result of Bill’s engineering consultancy.  They lived in New York, several different suburbs of Chicago, Towanda, PA, and Laurel, Mississippi.  Their brief stay in Laurel may have been the favorite stop on their family journey.  For two years Kate was able to reconnect with her roots in the delta and introduce the boys both to her side of the family and to the rural southern culture of her birth and youth.

            Finally, in 1968, the Nelson family settled in Virginia Beach, where they enjoyed their longest continuous homestead, living there until coming to Richmond and the Summerhill community just a few years ago.  Here in Virginia Kate had access to the water and woods, which she loved, skiing some in the winter, and hiking the Appalachian Trail with Bill. 

            During those years of frequent moves, Kate was the anchor for their four sons, as they maneuvered moving and making new friends and adjusting to new schools and environments.

She was a good match for four boys:  She was kind and gentle but quite firm in her resolve and could reprimand effectively – but without judgment.  Usually her response of “BOSH” was enough to communicate her disapproval to tom-foolery.

            Kate’s non judgmental persona with her boys continued when they became men and married and had their families.  She was a gracious mother-in-law.  And the gentle and accepting traits of the mother and mother-in-law carried over to her grandchildren, whom she enjoyed immensely.

Out of those early farm experiences and from her parents, Kate developed both a love of gardening and acquired an incredible green thumb.  She felt she had a relationship with each plant and liked to talk to them and give them names.  From her father she also learned to fish. She liked to fish on small ponds and was pretty good at it.

Kate loved to read, especially mystery novels.  She was incredibly good at divining plots and always got a chuckle at the different characters.  She had a book going ALWAYS.

When not reading, she could be found doing crossword puzzles.  She took notes and worked at them for hours.  Sometimes she would ask for suggestions but she had already thought of all my suggestions.

Above, Kate was a private person.  She was gracious and friendly to all but kept her personal life and relationships private.  She was thus a perfect mate for her more outgoing and gregarious husband.  Bill and Kate were a devoted couple.  Some of her hardest days came just within the last few months, when Bill was hospitalized and then in rehab.  The two of them simply were not accustomed to being separated.

            Kate was born and baptized a southern Baptist, but over the years she found her spiritual home in churches with various names and styles and confessions.  Generally she was amicable to following Bill’s lead.  They joined the Bon Air Presbyterian Church here in Richmond shortly after moving to Summerhill.  Bill and Kate have been fixtures at 8:30 worship and in the adult church Sunday School. It was a comfortable but stimulating intellectual and spiritual respite for them both.

            Kate is survived by her husband Bill; their sons William, Peter, Paul, and John; and eight grandchildren: Benjamin, Samuel, Amanda, Robert, Isabelle, and Julian Nelson, and Stacey and William Ellis; other extended family, her friends at Summerhill and here in BAPC, and friends throughout the country.

            Having gathered for our mutual support and to hear the comfort of the scriptures, let us worship God:

R. Charles Grant

Bon Air Presbyterian Church

Richmond, VA

September 16, 2007