Gladys Eleanor Todd Nelson
April 22, 1913 - April 20, 2010


     
Gladys was born April 22, 1913 in Brewer MS, the oldest of six children of Sadie Brewer Todd (1890 - 1956) and Francis Archabald Todd (1881 - 1967?). She later moved to DeSoto in Clarke county Mississippi. She attended Clarke County Agricultural High School and graduated in 1931. Fulfilling her desire to become a nurse, Gladys moved to New Orleans and attended Touro Infirmary School of Nursing.  She graduated as a registered nurse (RN) in 1936.  She remained in New Orleans for her entire nursing career--working as a ward nurse at Touro Infirmary and later as a research nurse with Tulane University School of Medicine.

    While nursing at Touro Infirmary, she met Harold Nelson who was visiting one of her patients. Gladys and Harold later married and had two children. Harold Todd Nelson was seriously ill at birth and died two days later on 19 November 1942. Carl Dane Nelson was born on 18 October 1944.

     Gladys retired from nursing in 1972.  After her husband, Harold Nelson, died in 1982, she moved to the Mobile AL area to be close to her sisters.

    Gladys Nelson moved to Cleveland TN in 1989 to be near her son, Carl. She first resided on Hamilton Circle before becoming a resident of a local nursing home.  While able, she attended Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Cleveland.  

Deceased Relatives Husband: Harold Dane Nelson.   Infant Son: Harold Todd Nelson.   Father:  Francis Archabald Todd Mother: Sadie Brewer Todd Brother:  Joseph A. Todd Sisters: Hazel Coker and Helen McLain     

Survived by one son, Carl Dane Nelson (Jennifer), two grandsons, Kit McNeal Nelson and Beau Jack Gilley; three granddaughters, Tina Marie Watson, Linda Jill Nelson, and Laura Anne Wiles; and eleven great-grandchildren.