Mary Beth Nelson, 85, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, September 4, 2013. Graveside services were held at Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon on Saturday, September 7, with Dean Whaley and Don Stone, officiating.
Mary Beth was born on December 19, 1927, in El Paso, Texas to Andrew M. and Ruby Dupree. She married Walter A. “Cotton” Nelson on March 20, 1948, in Lubbock, Texas. They moved to Amarillo, Texas in 1950, and it was there that they raised their four children. Mary Beth taught school for thirty years, working in both the Amarillo and Clarendon School districts. She was an active member of the Clarendon Church of Christ and was also an active community volunteer, receiving both the Saints Roost Award and the Amarillo Globe News Seven Who Care Award. She volunteered in the Clarendon library summer reading program. She was an accomplished musician and volunteered weekly, leading music therapy in nursing homes at Claude and Clarendon. She wrote hymns and was also a published author; writing two devotional books entitled How Can I? and God’s Paintbrush as well as contributing articles to other works, including her column “Check it Out” in the Clarendon Enterprise.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Walter A. “Cotton” Nelson, a sister Ruth Dupree, her son Mike Nelson, and a great grandson Ethan Paddock.
She is survived by three daughters, Jan Dudley of Hereford, Sharon Martin of Amarillo, and Jill Christal and husband Mike Christal of Johnson City, Texas; nine grandchildren; seventeen great grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren. She is loved and admired by family and friends and will be greatly missed.
The family suggests memorials be made to In Search of The Lord’s Way or BSA Hospice.
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